The Light at the End
by UniversalOverlordess
Summary: Kurt Hummel knew that his medical condition was going to kill him - he'd accepted it. But a chance meeting with a boy named Blaine could give him the courage to keep fighting. Sometimes the best things in life come out of the worst situations. AU Klaine
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Glee.

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><p>Death was something that Kurt thought about a lot.<p>

The first time he'd thought about it, it had been when he and his father had been told his mother wasn't going to make it. So, that night at the hospital, he'd sat on his mother's lap and had asked her, quietly, "Mommy? What's it like to die?"

She'd ran a hand through his hair, and replied, "Well, it's sort of... It's sort of like going to sleep, but you don't wake up."

"Is it scary?"

She'd tilted her head to the left and hummed. "Maybe, but do you remember Peter Pan?"

He'd nodded his head rapidly. "Yeah, he said that dying would be a great adventure, didn't he?"

She'd lifted a finger and poked his nose gently, causing him to laugh. "That's just right! It's like a completely new adventure; you don't know what exactly is going to happen."

The next week, she'd passed away and left him to go on that new adventure.

The next few months were filled with calls of condolence, visiting family members, and Kurt remembered seeing his father cry for the first time in his life. He remembered walking into their living room while his dad sat on the couch with a few of his friends around him. He remembered seeing the tears on his dad's face and not wanting them to be there, so he walked up and said, "Daddy, don't worry. Mommy told me that she was going to be going on a new adventure. Adventures are exciting, right?"

And he remembered his dad looking at him sadly before taking him and crushing him in a tight hug.

For a long time after that, Kurt didn't think about death.

Until he hit his first year of middle school.

The kids were brutal, calling him names he hadn't even known existed. He became really good friends with the school dumpsters, and he was promised that he would see them every day until he either died or stopped being such a freak.

He didn't understand it – at all. Why were they treating him like this? What had he done to deserve it?

That was the second time Kurt had thought about death.

He'd sat in his bathroom, looking at the razor that his dad used to shave and stared at the blades. Would it be worth it? Could he do it? He ended up debating with himself, going back and forth, until he'd heard the front door open and close; he put the razor back quickly and rushed out into the kitchen, trying not to seem too suspicious.

He didn't tell his dad about his thoughts of suicide, not wanting his dad to worry. Instead, when his dad had asked him how his day had gone, he'd smiled and replied, "It went great."

The bullying never stopped, and the more it happened, the more Kurt found himself thinking about death, and how it _could_ end his bullying situation, but it would do more harm than good. So he decided to ignore it. Other kids got bullied, right? Why did he have to make such a big deal out of it? His father didn't need to know about this. He had enough on his plate already. The bullying, however, was brought to his father's attention in a way that Kurt never expected.

To tell the truth, Kurt hadn't really thought that he could even _have _this issue. He knew that it ran in his family, but he'd never thought that it could actually happen to _him_.

He'd been running from one of the typical high school bullies, Noah Puckerman, after having made the mistake of calling him by his first name while insulting him. Now, Kurt had never been much of a runner, but he could run for a while without tiring himself out, but this time, not even a minute in to the run, he was out of breath and couldn't catch it.

He stopped running and pushed himself against the wall, his head pounding and his vision swimming. He gasped for air, letting his head hit the brick wall beside him. He could hear the heavy footsteps behind him - there was more than one set, so Puck must have gotten 'reinforcements' – but he just couldn't find it in himself to care.

God, why couldn't he _breathe?_

The footstep sounds stopped in front of him, and he raised his head to look up at Puck, Azimio, Hudson and Karofsky all standing in front of him.

"Hey, Hummel," Puckerman said loudly. "Are you ready for your daily date with the dumpster?"

Kurt was going to respond back with something witty, like he normally did, but he couldn't find the air to do it.

He could feel the hands on him before he could do anything and was resigning himself to his fate when someone spoke up.

"Dude, I don't think we should do this."

He was placed back on the ground roughly, and he heard Karofsky speak up. "Hudson, why not? We do it every day."

Hudson's voice wasn't as stable as it had been before when he'd spoken previously. "Look at him, he's pale and shit."

"Do I look like I care if he's pale?" Puckerman asked.

"No, and I don't really care either, but-"

If he could have, he would have spoken, but the second he opened his mouth, his vision went dark and he felt himself hit the ground before – nothing.

When he woke up, he found himself staring up at a white ceiling, something over his mouth, and a tight grip around his hand. His legs were curled up slightly and he straightened them, wincing slightly as his left leg popped a little. The grip on his hand tightened and he turned his face to the left to see his dad staring at him with an intensity that he'd never seen before.

"Dad?"

His dad's eyes filled up with tears as he shook his head. "Kurt... I-"

Kurt blinked at him tiredly. "Why am I in the hospital?"

His dad shook his head again.

"I can answer that for you, Kurt."

There was a doctor on the other side of his bed, who was staring at him with soft eyes. She was holding a clip board in her hands, and she was smiling sadly. "We're glad you're awake."

He stared up at her. "Why am I here?" He whispered, unable to talk louder.

She sighed, then sat down on the chair placed by his bed. "What do you remember?"

He took a breath. "I was being chased by some bullies... and then... I... Did I faint?"

She nodded.

"You passed out," his dad said, sounding like his entire world was falling down.

"Why did I pass out?"

The smile on the doctor's face slipped off. "You passed out because your heart wasn't able to pump enough blood to your brain, Kurt. Basically, your heart failed."

And that's when Kurt's entire world turned upside down.

[*]*[*]

After that day, there were times when Kurt would lay out underneath the sun and stare at the clouds as they drifted by.

He'd think those thoughts, the ones where he'd question his existence; he'd wonder if life was really worth living in his condition, and, of course, he'd think about death.

He didn't think about it like someone would think about suicide, but he'd think about what death would feel like. Would it feel like he was being sucked into a black hole, while trying to hold on to life with all of the strength that he had?

Sometimes he'd lift up a hand and hold it up, as if he could touch the sky. If he'd been able to fly, he would have taken off and left, happy to be free for just a single moment.

Sometimes he felt like a bird who had the will to fly but had broken wings.

Kurt was a singer; he loved to sing and sing, but he no longer could sing like he used to. It made his heart beat too fast, and when that happened, it caused his heart to fail, and then he'd land in the hospital again, with his father by his bedside, holding his hand as tight as he could and trying to hold back tears.

When he'd look at his father during those times in the hospital, he knew:

He was going to die.

He was only Status 2, and he wasn't even on the list for a transplant. He was incredibly sick, but not sick enough, his doctor had told him. After hearing those words, he'd resigned himself to that fact:

Kurt Hummel was going to die.

From his position out on the school cement steps that students often sat on during lunch, he couldn't help but smile darkly as he looked around at the other kids. They were so _lucky_ and they didn't even fucking _know_ it.

Kurt wasn't a sports person – at all – but he envied the jocks for their ability to run without having to worry about their blood pressure being too high. He envied all of the kids who got to work part time jobs, because they were able to experience something he couldn't.

But most of all, he envied the members of the Glee club. They got to do what he wished he could do with all of his heart: sing and dance. The school called them losers, but Kurt would gladly be called a loser if he'd been able to be in that club.

They often performed for the school randomly, like now, and Kurt watched them sadly as they performed Empire State of Mind to practically no one. The school tuned them out, as if they were just white noise.

Not able to take much more of the performance, Kurt gathered his things and stood up, taking one last glance at the Glee club before heading down the stairs. He ended up going down them faster then he'd planned, and by the time he reached the stairs he was out of breath.

_This is ridiculous,_ he thought angrily before taking a deep breath and trying to calm himself. He knew that the fact that he was out of breath that fast was a side effect but -

He headed inside, unaware of the Glee club behind him, thinking about ditching the rest of school. He was halfway to his locker when his french teacher stopped him.

"Mr. Hummel?"

He glanced up at her. She was smiling at him the way everyone else who knew about his condition smiled at him: sad and worried.

He hated it.

"I spoke with your doctor, and you do not have to go on the field trip to the museum this weekend."

He wanted to frown, because he'd been looking forward to going on the joint field trip with the Spanish class, because, maybe, for a day, he could act like a normal teenager. But no, he couldn't even have that. Instead, he smiled at her. "Thank you," he said, before beginning to head to his locker.

"Dude," he heard someone call out behind him. It was Puckerman, he noted when he turned around. "Whatever you have to make you not go, I'll take it! I _so_ do not want to go on this trip."

The rest of the Glee clubbers laughed with him, and the one in the wheel chair raised a hand up, stating, "Preach, yo."

Kurt knew they were being ignorant of his illness, because only the teachers and the rest of the school staff knew about how sick he was, but the thought of someone _wanting_ what he had made his stomach churn. "Y-you _want_ what I have...?"

He wasn't able to stop the words from spilling out. One of the kids who was on the football team, the Asian one, whistled. "Wow, he speaks! I think this is the first time I've ever heard you speak, Hummel."

The blonde, who he knew was named Quinn, slapped the boy's arm. "Be nice, Mike."

Mike held up his hands in surrender. "Yes, ma'am."

Puckerman and Hudson laughed, and then Puckerman was walking towards him. "So, listen, Hummel. I, uh, wanted to say that I'm sorry for, you know, scaring you so much that you passed out that one time."

Kurt looked up at him and sighed. "Fine. Whatever," he said, before turning and making his way to his locker, once again, ignoring the strange looks he was getting from the Glee club.

He was just so _tired_ of it all.

Deciding on skipping the rest of the school day, Kurt placed all of the books in his bag into his locker before heading out to the parking lot. When he got tired, he made trips to see his mom, to talk to her, and she sometimes helped him feel better.

The drive to the cemetery was quick, and before he knew it, he was standing in front of his mother's grave, staring down at her named engraved in the marble. "Hi, Mom," he whispered, bending down to his knees. "I jut thought I'd come visit you today. It's been pretty rough..."

He stopped talking, wondering what exactly to say, before he remembered what his dad had asked him to do.

"Dad asked me to make a wish list, Mom. Can you believe that? He wants me to make a list of places I want to travel, hit tourist spots that I want to see, things I want to do while I'm there... The first one on my list is to go to Auckland so that I can jump off of the Sky-tower. I've always wanted to do that."

He drew off, listening to his breathing and the wind around him. Finally, he said it. "I'm scared, Mom. I'm scared to die."

He moved closer to the gravestone and leaned up against it, pulling his legs into his chest and wrapping his arms around them.

"There are so many things that I want to do. I want to see a Broadway show, I want to perform _something_ on a stage – any stage... I want to go to Paris and I really want to fall in love..."

He stopped himself from continuing before forcing himself to smile. "But those are all just silly thoughts, huh, Mom? I have a pretty nice life right now."

Sighing, he let his eyes close, letting himself listen to the wind and the birds, and drifting off into sleep.

The next thing he knew, someone had a hand on his shoulder and was shaking him gently. His eyes opened, and he was able to make out a fuzzy outline of another boy.

"Are you awake now?"

Kurt let out a small grunt before pushing himself into more of a sitting position. "I am now."

"I didn't mean to wake you up, but it's getting pretty late and cold out so..."

Kurt shook his head; a hand appeared in front of his face and he took it, getting help in standing up. "Thank you ...ah..."

The boy, who was slightly shorter than he was, with gelled hair and hazel eyes, smiled at him. "Blaine. Blaine Anderson, and no problem."

Kurt nodded his head at him. "Kurt Hummel." He fished his phone out from his pocket and checked the time. "Oh, shit," he muttered. "Dad is going to kill me!"

Blaine let out a shaky laugh. "You have a curfew?"

"No, not really, but he tends to worry a bit too much."

"Ah, I know how you feel. That's how my mom is sometimes. In fact, I should probably tell her I'm in Lima before she has a cow," he said while taking out his phone.

Kurt cocked his head. "Do you not live here?"

Blaine shook his head, staring at the phone while texting. "No, I live in Westerville. I go to Dalton Academy, but I have an aunt in this cemetery and it's the anniversary of her death today, so I came to visit her."

Kurt nodded his head. "I was coming to visit my mom," he said, wondering at the same time _why_ he was telling a complete stranger this.

Blaine looked down at the grave with a small smile. "I'm sorry, Kurt."

It was the pure honesty in his voice that made Kurt inhale sharply. He'd never had someone say it that honestly. Most of the time, the other people said it like it was their job to say it. Fiddling with his hands, Kurt said, "It happened a while ago, like when I was eight."

"Still, that's something huge. It's not something that you just get over."

Kurt nodded, agreeing. "Yeah, that's true." He glanced back down at his phone and sighed. "Well, I better be on my way. It was nice meeting you, Blaine Anderson."

He turned on his heel and began to make his way towards the cemetery entrance. He was almost there when he heard his name being called out.

"Hey, Kurt!"

Blaine appeared next to him a few seconds later. "Hey, listen. So, I was wondering, are you doing anything this weekend? My dad is a lawyer, and he has a court day up here on Friday and he's forcing me to come along. I'll have nothing to do, so would you mind being my Lima tour guide?"

Kurt stared at him, before letting out a bark of laughter. "You think that there's actually interesting things to do in _Lima?_ Besides look at cows?"

Blaine looked offended. "Hey, cows are interesting! ….well, maybe not, but still!"

Kurt giggled again, before nodding. "Sure, I'm not doing anything, so why not?"

Blaine grinned widely at him. "Great! Can I get your number?"

Kurt gave it to him, and Blaine's grin grew. "I'll just text you real quick..." he mumbled, then smirked. "I'll let you know what time I'm going to be arriving here and we'll have a blast looking at cows. See you, Kurt."

Kurt waved to him as he left, still smiling. He hadn't smiled like that in months. Digging his phone out of his pocket, he let out another giggle as he read the text.

_Moo ;) - Blaine A_

As he headed his way to his car, he couldn't help but feel that something in his life had shifted, and that maybe it wouldn't be so gloomy after all.

[*]*[*]

He'd been right about his dad worrying about him, because when he'd gotten home, his dad had pulled him into a bone crushing hug, telling him that he'd been _this close_ to calling an ambulance and the police. Kurt sighed in the embrace and gave his dad a gentle squeeze.

"I'm okay, Dad, I was just visiting Mom."

Burt pulled back and gave him an intense look. "Are you feeling okay?"

Kurt took a step back and placed his book bag on the ground. "I'm out of breath, but other than that, I'm fine." He went silent for a moment, before he spoke again. "I met someone at the cemetery today."

Burt began to head back into the kitchen. "Oh, really? Who was it?"

"His name is Blaine," he said, following his dad into the kitchen. "He's going to be down here on Friday, and I'm going to be his 'tour guide' while his dad is in court."

"Where is he from?"

"Westerville."

Burt pulled open the refrigerator door and bent down to look inside. "Is he nice?"

"He made me laugh."

Burt pulled his head out and turned to stare at him before he smiled. "I think I like this kid."

Kurt nodded. "He was very nice."

Burt was silent for a while as he pulled out the salad that Kurt had made the previous night. "...was he cute?"

"Dad!"

Burt let out a laugh. "Sorry, kiddo, but I just want to know if I'm going to see this kid at all."

"I _just_ met him, _god_."

Burt snickered again, before he grew serious. "I thought you had that field to go to?"

"Dr. Walker called and talked to the principal. I don't have to go now."

Burt furrowed his eyebrows. "I thought you wanted to go?"

"I did, but it looks like my Friday will be completely free to show Blaine around _amazing_ Lima."

The silence that normally filled their kitchen came back, and Kurt sighed. "Dad? I'm kind of tired, so I think I'm just going to go to bed early, okay? You can order take out or go get a burger if you want."

Burt looked over at him and his eye's softened. "Are you sure?"

Kurt nodded. "Yeah. Maybe I'll read if it gets too hard to breathe later tonight or something."

Burt seemed hesitant to leave. "Will you call me if you get even the _slightest_ dizzy?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Yes, dad, I will. I promise. Now go and eat something that will clog your arteries."

Burt smiled at him as he headed towards the door. "There's my boy," he said fondly as he slipped out the door.

Kurt waited until he heard the truck pull out of the drive way before he headed up to his room and turned on his laptop. He pulled up Google as soon as he could and typed in 'Dalton Academy, Blaine Anderson' before quickly shutting his laptop down with the screen finished loading.

He couldn't believe it.

He'd been about to _google_ a boy that he'd just met not even an hour previous.

_Am I that desperate for some companionship?_

He ran a hand through his hair before he started on his nightly routine. He took a little longer than necessary, hoping that his phone would beep, saying that he'd gotten a text. As he was pulling his pajamas out, he mentally slapped himself.

"You're acting like a girl who has a crush on the school jock, Kurt, stop it."

Taking a deep breath, he left the room to brush his teeth. By the time he came back to his room, his phone had lit up, indicating a text message. He cocked his head as he picked it up and slid his finger across the screen to unlock it.

_One new text from Blaine Anderson._

"I didn't think he'd actually text me..." he muttered, shocked that he was actually reading what he was seeing. He pressed it and read the text.

_Hey Kurt, so my dad and I will be arriving in Lima at around nine in the morning and he's leaving me the car. Do you know of any places that we could meet up? - Blaine_

Kurt had to smile again, and he secretly thanked this boy for making him smile twice in one day. He quickly replied back.

_Well, if you want to eat some breakfast or get some coffee, there's this great small cafe that is close to the cemetery if you would like to meet there? - Kurt_

He bent down and plugged his phone up to his charger, then began to fix his pillows so that he would be sitting up more than he would be laying down while he slept. One thing Kurt missed was actually _sleeping. _Lately, sleeping was more of a chore than it was a luxury. It became hard to breathe some nights when his lungs had a fluid backup.

As he was crawling underneath his covers, his phone beeped again, and he leaned over to read the text.

_Sounds like a plan! I'll meet you at the cemetery at, say, around 9:30? _

Kurt replied back with a _'it's a deal',_ then pulled his covers up around him. Maybe he could be happy for a while? Maybe this Blaine was the small light of happiness he'd enjoy before everything was over?

[*]*[*]

Over in Westerville, Blaine Anderson put his phone down and returned to his French homework, insanely glad that he'd skipped school to visit his aunt's grave. Sure, his dad had given him quite the lecture, but -

His phone let out a small sound, and he looked at the text.

_I'd suggest being really hungry. The food they make is enough to feed a cow. And I don't know about you, but I do not have more than one stomach._

Yeah, it had pretty much been worth it.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Author's notes: <em>**I started this a while ago - and by a while ago I mean a couple of months, a few days, and roughly 2.7 hours ago. The medical condition is inspired by the movie _Seven Pounds_, and the will to keep going in this story is inspired by a fact that I learned: that even if everything seems gloomy, one person can make an _immense_ difference.

I hope that you all enjoyed! Let me know what you thought!

UO


	2. Chapter 2

**_Disclaimer: _**I do not own Glee

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><p><em><strong>Chapter 2<strong>_

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><p>Kurt hated waking up to a coughing fit.<p>

They happened all of the time, but it made him so much more tired throughout the day, and he couldn't afford to be tired today. It was _Friday_, and he wasn't excited in the way Rebecca Black was when she wrote her awful song, but he was actually looking forward to this day, and he didn't remember the last time he was excited to wake up.

He sat up slowly, then allowed the smile to fully appear. He felt like a little kid who was going to a theme park for the first time in his life; he was so _excited_. A day out...

Of course, his dad had told him to keep his cell phone on him at all times, and if he got too dizzy or tired to call him and he'd come pick him up; they'd pick Kurt's car up some other time. He'd made the promise quickly, way too excited to think about them fully.

Yawning and stretching, Kurt leaned over and grabbed his phone to check the time.

6:24. So he had plenty of time to get ready, and also stop by McKinley to pick up some homework from his English class.

He looked in his notifications and noticed he had a text from Blaine.

_Happy morning! Happy morning! Wake up, you sleepy head! You can sleep...well, later, you can sleep later. I'll see you soon! - Blaine_

Smiling, Kurt replied with a 'good morning to you too Mr. Sunshine' before shaking his head and laughing. He and Blaine had been texting non stop since they'd gotten each others numbers and while Kurt could say that even though it had only been two days, he felt like he knew Blaine Anderson really well. What scared him was the fact that he'd gotten to know him over text. Seeing him in person was a completely different matter.

Would Blaine like him once he got to spend more than a few minutes with him in person? Would they click like they had over text?

Shaking his head, he decided not to think about it. He placed his legs on the side of his bed and stood up, stretching once more before picking his robe up, wrapping it around him and heading upstairs.

His dad was already in the kitchen, eating his normal breakfast that made Kurt want to gag. When he entered, Burt looked up and smiled. "Morning, kiddo. What's the plan for today?"

Kurt opened the fridge and pulled out the orange juice carton. "I'm meeting him at the cemetery, then taking him to Katie's Cafe, and then we'll go from there."

"Okay, just keep me updated on this, okay? I want to know where you are if anything happens."

If Kurt had been a normal teenager without a failing heart, he would have been angry that he had to update his dad on his location, but he smiled instead and nodded. "I will. Oh, I'm going to pick up the English homework I would have been missing if I had gone on that field trip as well. Might as well get a head start on it, right?"

Burt finished his breakfast and stood up. "I'm heading off to the garage, and I'm going to be working late tonight, so don't wait up for me." He drew off. "Think you'll be tired tonight?"

Kurt let out a sigh. "It's inevitable, actually. I've never had an entire day out since this happened, so it'll be hard, but I think it'll be worth it."

Burt smiled at him with soft eyes. "I'm proud of you, Kurt."

Kurt looked up quickly before he walked over and hugged his dad tightly. "I love you, Dad."

His dad was everything to him. He'd been there for him when he was first diagnosed, and there when they'd had their first scare. He'd gone with Kurt to every single doctors appointment, and had stayed the night at the hospital when the tests took longer than planned.

He was Kurt's lifeline.

His dad hugged back just as tight and placed a gentle kiss on the top of his head. "I love you too, bud."

Kurt wasn't sure or not if he actually heard his dad sniff as he pulled away, but he didn't look up to check. "I'm going to go get ready for the day."

"I'm heading to the garage. Call me later?"

"Of course."

[*]*[*]

McKinley was very different when the halls were empty.

All Kurt could hear was the tapping of his feet on the floor, and the consistent beating of his heart. He'd been in empty hallways before, but for some odd reason, everything seemed louder and slower, and he felt as though he'd been walking forever but not getting anywhere.

Goddammit, he was already _tired_.

It was only eight thirty in the morning. He shouldn't be this tired! Kurt shook his head and looked at the door in front of him before knocking. He waited a few seconds before opening the door and stepping inside slightly.

The class was quiet, with the students taking either a test or a pop quiz, but his teacher wasn't in the room. A black girl, who he recognized as a member of the Glee club, was sitting closest to the door, so he walked over to her and whispered, "Excuse me, but do you know where Mrs. Larson is?"

She glanced up at him, then replied, "She had to run out to make some copies of the assignment."

"Oh, so it's a handout today? Do you know when she'll be back? I need to leave soon, and I was hoping to get the assignment."

The girl frowned for a second, before she reached into her bag and pulled out a few papers. "Here, you can take mine; I'll get a new one when she gets back."

"Thank you," he said, taking the paper. "I'm sorry, what was your name?"

"Mercedes."

He smiled at her. "I'm Kurt. I just wanted to let you know that your performance the other day was really good. I hope you guys get to go to New York."

With that, he turned and slipped out of the room and began heading towards the entrance. He was halfway there when he found himself being shoved against a row of lockers. He gasped, stunned, and turned his head to the right to see the big form of Karofsky walking away. Kurt blinked rapidly, trying to get rid of the shock that came from the fact that he'd just been _shoved_ into a row of lockers.

And it had _hurt_ too.

Rolling his shoulders, he straightened up and headed out of the building.

His shoulders were still sore when he pulled up to the cemetery an hour later, but he ignored it and got out of his car. He pulled out his phone and dialed Blaine's number.

"Hey, I'm here."

"_Hey, I'll be there in a minute. I... I kind of got lost."  
><em>

Kurt tried not to smile.

He failed at not trying.

"You got _lost_..."

"_Well, more like I got distracted by the amazing types of cows you have here. No, actually, I had to get the oil changed at a garage, but my dad only let's us go to one type of garage, so I had to drive around for a while to find it. But I'll be at the cemetery-"_

There was a honk behind him, and Kurt turned around to see a mustang rolling up to park beside his car.

"_- right now._"

The car parked next to his stopped and the engine shut off; Blaine opened the door and stood up, calling, "Hey, Kurt. Sorry I'm late."

Kurt shook his head and greeted him with a smile. "No, it's okay. Do you want to head out?"

Blaine nodded, then glanced at their cars. "Do you want to drive, or do you want me to?"

Kurt held out a hand to his car. "Why don't you get in? I know where we're going so..."

"Sounds good."

They got into Kurt's car, and he pulled out then headed for the cafe.

He didn't really know what to do in this situation. He'd never been in it before. He'd never had someone who wasn't his family member in his car, and it was _weird._ Did he talk first, or did he wait for Blaine to start up a conversation? He bit his lip and he begged the light he was stopped at to turn green. Finally getting worked up because of the silence, he opened his mouth-

"So, where do you go to school?"

Kurt looked over at Blaine through the side of his eye; Blaine was leaning slightly on the door, with his elbow propped up, and he was turned slightly so he could see Kurt, his eyes looking straight at him.

"Oh... I got to McKinley High."

Blaine's eyebrows furrowed slightly. "That's where the New Directions Glee club is, right?"

Kurt nodded; the light turned green and he pressed on the gas. "Yeah, that's the name of the club. I kind of wish I was in it."

Blaine seemed to perk up a little. "Oh, you sing?"

Kurt shrugged. "A little," he said stiffly. "Not much though. I don't think I'm that good..."

Blaine let out a little chuckle. "Oh, don't say that. I doubt you're bad."

Kurt cleared his throat. "So, do you sing?"

Blaine laughed. "Yeah, I'm in the Dalton glee club. They're called the Warblers."

"Like the bird?"

"Uh-huh."

"Huh..."

And then he had ran out of things to talk about. _God_, why was he such an socially awkward person? And, before he knew it, he'd blurted out: "So, have a girlfriend?"

Blaine sat up straight suddenly. "Why do you ask?"

Oh no... He'd said something wrong. Oh, this was _not_ good, not good at all. He curled his shoulders in slightly, making himself look smaller than he was. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have asked that; just forget about it."

"No, no, it's okay! I was just wondering why you asked is all."

Kurt still kept his shoulders hunched in. "I-I just was wondering if you had a girlfriend, because it seemed really odd that you'd ask a complete stranger to show you around Lima... because, if you had a girlfriend, she would have been the better candidate..."

He wasn't making sense, and _why_ did he have to be such a blabber mouth?

This was one of the things he hated about himself. Sure, he was gay, he could deal with that; in fact, he didn't mind that he was gay, but – He didn't have friends, and he didn't know how to act around them. And this guy was fucking _hot_, and he was just making a huge fool of himself.

"No, I don't have a girlfriend. Aren't my type, you know?"

Oh.

_Oh._

_Oh my fucking god..._

Kurt let a small smile slip onto his lips. "Oh...yeah, I know what you mean..."

And had he just told Blaine that he was gay too?

Wow, he was just on a roll with the whole awkwardness thing today.

"Do _you_ have a boyfriend?"

Kurt flushed. "Um...no."

"Ah, me neither."

"Oh..."

What was he supposed to say to that?

He pulled into the cafe parking lot and stopped the car, but didn't bother to open the door. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "This was a really awkward way to begin the day, huh?"

Blaine suddenly let out a long laugh that had Kurt staring at him in shock. "It was, but hey! We got a lot of awkward things out it it: we're both gay and single! I wonder what other awkward things will come out of today?"

Kurt laughed, then got out of his car. "Hungry?"

"You bet."

The cafe wasn't as crowded as it normally was, but to be honest, Kurt was rather glad about that. He was already feeling tired, and it was still early in the morning; he felt like his legs were coated in cement, and that he had to wind himself up just to keep looking happy – even if Blaine was totally cute and fun to talk to, it was taking a lot out of Kurt just to keep up with him.

"Uh, they have you sit yourself, and then they'll send someone over to us, so... Do you want a table or a booth?"

Blaine let his eyebrows furrow as he thought. "I think a booth. They're more comfortable."

"I'd have to agree, and these seats are really nice as well, for a small cafe."

Blaine ended up picking a booth in the corner, away from the majority of the people in the cafe. Kurt settled in on one side and watched as Blaine slid in easily to the other and pulled out a menu. "Hmm... do you have any recommendations?"

Kurt picked up his own menu. "Well, it really depends on what you're looking for and what type of food you want for breakfast."

"I feel like totally being a kid at the moment and having something with either pancakes or waffles."

Kurt flipped the menu over a page and then reached over and did the same with Blaine's. He pointed to an item near the bottom right and said, "I think this one is the best in terms of taste, actually. I think you'd like it."

Blaine stared at it before he nodded his head and closed the menu. "Okay, I'll get that."

Thirty minutes later found them sitting and laughing together as they ate, discussing Broadway musicals and the latest fashion designs that had come out. Kurt had long since finished his meal and had placed his empty plate to the side. "So, your favorite musical is..."

"Hands down Avenue Q."

"Oh, really? I've never seen it performed anywhere, but I've heard the music. Let me just tell you, I can't listen to any music that resembles Sesame Street without laughing now."

Blaine took his napkin and wiped off his lips. "Oh, I know. I sing it all of the time, and it drives my parents crazy. They yell and tell me that I'm ruining parts of my little brother's childhood or...whatever it is that they say. It's usually something along those lines."

Kurt hummed. "So you have siblings?"

"Yeah, an older brother, and twin younger siblings. A boy and a girl, and they can be the most annoying little things at times, but they're a lot of fun." His face went serious; Kurt noticed how his eyebrows became even more rectangular when he was serious and had to restrain himself from laughing. "They also teach how to have a lot of patience too."

"How old are they?"

"My older brother, Wendell-"

Kurt raised an eyebrow and Blaine pointed a finger at him. "Don't judge."

"I'm totally not judging."

He was.

"Well, Wendell is in his third year of law school; he's planning on taking over the family law firm for my dad. Katie and James are five."

Blaine picked up his knife and fork and set them down on his plate, then pushed it aside. "Do you have any siblings?"

Kurt shook his head, suddenly wondering what it would be like to have siblings. Would it be fun? Or would he be constantly irritated by them? "No, I'm an only child."

Blaine leaned his chin against his palm. "Lucky..."

"Oh, I'm not sure..."

Kurt moved to the right a bit, so that he could lean up against the wall and not have to keep himself up. "So your dad is a lawyer? That must be a blast."

Blaine shook his head. "It's not, trust me. Everyone wants me to go to law school like my brother and then help out with the firm. It's a family firm: Anderson Law, and it's just something that I don't want to do."

Kurt nodded. "I totally understand. My dad owns a garage, and even though I love to help him fix cars when I can, I don't want to take it over."

He didn't say that he loved to help out when he was strong enough to work on them, because, even though he and Blaine got along _really _well (they had clicked together, and, if he was honest, it kind of scared him how well they got along after only knowing each other for two days), he didn't think he wanted for Blaine to know about his health issues.

"What do you want to do with your life?" Blaine asked, leaning back against the booth. "That is, if you don't mind my asking?"

Kurt shrugged and opened his mouth, then promptly shut it again. Did he know what he wanted to do with his life?

Underneath the table, his hands decided to twitch, and he laced them together and gripped them tightly, then bit his lip as he thought. He- he hadn't really thought about it before, actually. He didn't exactly know how much longer he had to live, and he _knew_ that he couldn't travel far in case something happened and he wasn't able to reach his doctor but-

"I don't know, to be honest. I have goals, yes, like going to see a Broadway performance, I've got this cheesy dream of having a romantic dance underneath the rain, and I really want to see the ocean but other than that... I don't really have a plan for my life."

Blaine, he noticed, was watching him intently, his head cocked slightly to the side and his mouth open a little. "No," he finally said. "I totally get it. I don't really know what I want to do either, but at the moment, I don't really care. I'm just enjoying life, right?"

"...right."

Kurt cleared his throat, trying to think of something else to talk about. "What time did you say you had to pick up your dad?"

Blaine glanced down at his watch. "At one, so in about three or so hours."

Kurt pulled out a twenty dollar bill and placed it on the table. "Well, then lets get started on the wonderful Hummel Lima Tour, Guaranteed to make you bored, really fast."

Blaine let a laugh ring out, then stopped once he noticed the twenty on the table. "You are not paying for this."

Kurt was already halfway out of his seat. "Why not?"

Blaine pulled out his own wallet, picked up Kurt's twenty and placed his own down in his place. "Because," he said, holding the twenty out for Kurt to take. "I am the one who asked you to show me around, so I'm going to be the one paying."

The way he said it made no room for arguments. Reluctantly, Kurt took back his twenty. "Are you sure you don't want to go into law? You have an amazing lawyers voice."

Blaine shrugged and stood up. "Got it from my dad."

"Well," Kurt said as they made their way out to his car. "He taught you very well."

After much debate, Blaine eventually picked the park with the small pond and the ducks to visit. They stopped by the bread store and bought a loaf (Blaine insisted on paying – _again_), then the next thing Kurt knew, they were sitting on a bench by the water, idly tossing bread crumbs to the ducks and watching the ducks fighting over what they'd tossed.

"I like ducks," Blaine said randomly, tossing another bit of bread at the nearest duck; it hit the duck on it's head and bounced off. The duck looked up at the sky, as if wondering where the bread had come from, then leaned down and quickly snatched it up. Kurt had to laugh.

"I can see why. They are kind of entertaining."

"That they are," Blaine said, tossing another crumb.

Sighing, Kurt leaned his head back against the bench top, closing his eyes and letting the wind blow over his face and through his hair. Kurt could honestly say that he didn't remember a time when he was this relaxed since he'd learned about his heart.

The feeling was _amazing_.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt Blaine grab his hand and pull him up from the bench slowly. "Blaine, what are you doing?"

Blaine smirked at him, then began to lead him down to the pond. "I have a sudden feeling to act like a five year old, and so that's what I'm going to do," he said.

When they arrived at the edge of the pond, Blaine slipped off his shoes and stepped into the water. Kurt stared at him and rolled his eyes. "Wow, Blaine. Your inner child comes out a lo-"

He was cut off as water suddenly hit his face. He gasped in shock and stumbled back a step. "What was that?"

When he opened his eyes, Blaine had an adorable puppy look on his face. "Come play with me?"

He held out his hand.

Kurt just stared at it, thinking. He'd never done _this_ before. Would it get his blood pressure and heart rate up too high? Would he get dizzy quickly? Would he black out? Would he...enjoy it? He glanced back up at Blaine's face, which was hopeful, then back down to his outstretched hand.

In that split second, Kurt decided that he wanted to have fun, his heart issues be damned.

He slipped his own shoes off, then reached out his own hand and grasped Blaine's and allowed himself to be pulled into the water.

For the next fifteen minutes, as he was splashed and drenched, Kurt felt like a regular teenager for the first time in two years. He didn't worry about his heart rate, or his blood pressure, or any of that. He was having _fun_, and as he laughed and let Blaine pull him into a hug, he couldn't have been more grateful for those fifteen minutes.

Still laughing, Kurt pulled away from the hug and glanced over to where the bench they'd been sitting on was. He giggled at the site he was given. "Look," he said, pointing.

The ducks were sitting on the bench with the bread loaf, staring at them.

"They're judging us, Kurt," Blaine whispered in his ear, and Kurt giggled again.

Then he shivered.

"Cold?" Blaine said, while taking his jacket off and slipping it on Kurt's shoulders.

"Thanks," he muttered, slightly confused but grateful nonetheless. Now that the fun had worn off, he could feel how tired he was, and he shuddered thinking about how much longer the entire day was. He _wanted_ to spend more time doing fun things with Blaine. _Stupid faulty heart..._

Two hours later found Kurt waving goodbye to Blaine at the cemetery and two hours and fifteen minutes later found him laying on the couch, exhausted but happy. Throughout the day, he'd felt himself getting more tired, it getting hard to breathe, but he wanted to be with _Blaine _and have fun, so he pushed through it. It left him panting by the time he got home, but it had been so worth it. Not necessarily hungry, he grabbed the blanket laying on the back of the couch, draped it over him and turned on the TV. He never managed to actually fall asleep, but he was able to drift in and out until he heard the door open and his dad walk in.

"Hey," his dad said in a whisper. "Tired?"

Kurt sat up slowly and nodded. "Very." Then he looked at his clock to check the time. "You're home later than you had planned."

Burt sat down next to him on the couch and removed his hat. "I ended up talking to someone at the garage longer than I thought." He then turned a stern gaze on Kurt. "You never told me where you were."

Kurt's eyes widened and he bit his lip. "I'm sorry! I was just having fun and-"

Burt let out a laugh. "It's okay, kiddo. You had fun, and nothing bad happened so it's all okay." Then he frowned. "You did have fun, right?"

Kurt smiled up at him, then laid back down. "Best day of my life so far."

"That's good. So, your doctor called me today, and they've scheduled an MRI next Monday to see how things are going. Do you want to stay home from school the entire day, or do you want to go and then I'll just check you out when you need to be there?"

"I'd like to go. I need to turn in my English assignment anyway so why not?"

"Sounds good. You can go back to sleep. I'll wake you up when dinner is finished."

Nodding, Kurt let his head hit the pillow, and he closed his eyes, dreaming about ducks, ponds, and pancakes.

On Monday, his English professor decided on having the class do a joint project that would be worth a quarter of their grade. He had ended up walking in late, due to not sleeping well because of not being able to breathe well, and after being told what the project was, found himself being partnered with Mercedes, the girl who'd given him his assignment the previous Friday.

"Hello," he said, greeting her with a small smile.

She stared at him, then, nodded at his attire. "I _love_ the shirt. Marc Jacobs, right?"

Kurt grinned, knowing that they'd get along _just _fine.

These few days were turning out to be the best he'd ever had.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Author's notes: <em>**So, just so people know, I'll be updating weekly. And:

HOLY CRAP YOU GUYS THEY LOVE EACH OTHER. Well, we all knew that but... Still.

Let me know what you guys thought of this chapter, please!

*scampers off to watch the I love you clip forever*

Lots of love,

UO


	3. Chapter 3

**_Disclaimer: _**I do not own Glee.**_  
><em>**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter 3<strong>_

* * *

><p><em><em>Kurt was _not_ a fan of hospital visits. He'd been in there way too many times, and pretty much the majority of the nurses in the cardiac wing knew his name and appearance by now. It wasn't something that he was proud of.

"Hello again, Kurt," one of the older nurses said politely as he walked past the check in desk. "How are you doing today?"

He shrugged at her and then signed the clipboard at the desk. "No better or worse than the last time I was here."

"It says here that you are scheduled for an MRI, correct?"

"That's right."

The nurse smiled sweetly at him once more. "I do hope everything goes alright, my dear. Just head on back and someone will come collect you."

Kurt nodded at her and went to sit down in one of the seats.

He hated hospitals. They smelled, they were silent, and no one seemed happy. He remembered being here with his mom, waiting and waiting and _waiting_. He'd been a little kid, sitting on his dad's lap and constantly looking around for the doctor who would tell him if his mommy was going to live or not. His dad would have fallen asleep two hours into the wait, and Kurt would be left sitting alone, watching people go back and forth in front of him.

He remembered seeing someone covered in blood being rushed in through the ambulance door and it had terrified him. He wasn't really sure what happened when someone had what the doctors called pneumonia. Did blood come out of her like it had been on that man they'd just rushed in? Or did her limbs and hair fall off?

"Daddy?"

Burt had just grunted and turned more in the chair, letting Kurt watch for the doctor and cling next to the sleeping form of what would be his only parent.

"Kurt Hummel?"

Kurt's head snapped up to see his doctor walking towards him. "Hello, Dr. Walker. How are you doing?"

She smiled at him and held out a hand that Kurt took. "I'm doing well, thank you. How about you?"

He stood up and began to follow her down the hallway. "I'm doing okay. I've been pretty tired lately, but that's because I had a long weekend but-"

She cut him off with a small smile. "I meant how is your life going? I would like to know things about you that don't revolve around your heart, sweetie."

Kurt blinked at her. "Oh. Um... I met someone, made a friend."

"Really? What's the name?"

"His name is Blaine and... well, I was sort of his tour guide around Lima on Friday. I had a lot of fun."

She turned around and stared at him for a while, and when he grew uncomfortable he shifted and began to wring his fingers together. "I can tell that you had fun. You look happier. That's good."

He only let a small smile slip.

"Okay, now let's get you ready for this MRI."

[*]*[*]

"Dad? What is it? Is something wrong?"

His dad was wearing something nice, and after he and Kurt had arrived back from the hospital, he'd been in some sort of happy daze the rest of the afternoon. Kurt wondered if he'd already died and this was whatever afterlife or...something.

His dad looked up at him, then held out his arms. "What do you think? Look okay?"

Kurt walked into the room and sat down on the edge of his dad's bed and examined him. "It looks good," he said after a few minutes of staring. "But seriously, Dad, what's with the suit?"

Burt looked back in the mirror and attempted to fix his tie. "Didn't I tell you? I have a date tonight?"

Well, _that_ sparked Kurt's interest. "Oh, real- Oh, Dad. You're hopeless," he muttered, standing up and walking over to help fix his dad's tie. "So, how did you meet this lady?"

"Well, you know last Friday, when I said I'd stayed late? Well, I ended up doing an oil change on her car, and we just sort of started talking. And now... Well, I'm taking her out."

Kurt smiled up at him. "I'm glad, Dad." Then he huffed. "It's about time, too."

"Hey!"

Kurt laughed, then wandered back over to the bed and laid down on it. "So, what's her name?"

"Carole. Carole Hudson."

"Hudson? Does she have a son?"

Burt frowned. "I think so. 's name is... Finn?"

Kurt nodded. Then stood up and placed his hands on his hips, his eyes running over his dad's outfit. "What time are you picking her up?"

"In about... Oh, in ten minutes..."

"Dad!"

"I lost track of time!"

Kurt hurried over to the small vanity that had once belong to his mother, picked up his dad's wallet and shoved it into his hands, then began to push him towards the door. "Go, go, go, _go_!"

Burt sighed and headed towards the door. "I'm going, I'm going. But listen," he said, turning around once he'd reached the door. "Just because I'm going out doesn't mean that I don't want you to call me if anything happens, okay?" He said sternly.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, I'll call you."

"_Kurt._"

"I'll call you! Now go!"

With one last stern look, Burt headed out the door, and Kurt watched him leave until he was unable to see his dad's car anymore. Then he smiled and headed towards the couch. He hoped this worked out. His dad would need someone there for him once Kurt's heart gave out.

Kurt had settled for laying on the couch and watching TV until he felt like going to bed, but those plans changed when his phone rang. It was an unknown number, and he was hesitant to answer it, because a lot of those phone calls turned out to be prank calls. He almost let it go to voice mail, but he decided to answer it at the last second.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this Kurt Hummel?"

He frowned. "Yes. Who is this?"

"It's Mercedes."

Mercedes... Merced-

_Oh_.

"Oh, hi! I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting you to call..."

She sucked in a breath. "No, it's okay. I'm sorry for calling you without first letting you know I would be, but..."

"But?"

"I feel bad for doing this, but my family planned some sort of group activity after school tomorrow, and so I won't be able to keep our study date."

_Oh..._

"So, I was wondering if you would mind coming into the choir room tomorrow during lunch? We can get started there, and then possibly, the day after that, come to glee club and we can continue?"

He thought about it, because being in the choir room _hurt_ but-

"Okay... Why not?"

He could practically feel her relief seeping through the phone. "Okay, then. Good... I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, goodbye, Mercedes."

"Goodbye, Kurt."

[*]*[*]

To be honest, Kurt had never been looking forward to lunch more than he was now. He'd always wanted a legitimate excuse to go in the choir room, to see where the Glee club worked its magic. It was empty when he walked into it, and he took the chance to look around.

It looked like a normal choir room, but Kurt had the feeling that if he was able to sing and dance a long with them, he would have _loved_ this room. It felt...happy. Sighing, Kurt walked over to the piano and placed a hand on it. _What I would give to be a part of this club..._

"Kurt?"

He turned towards the door behind him to see Mercedes standing there, with the Asian girl beside her. "Hello," he said quietly.

Mercedes pointed to the girl next to her. "This is Tina. Tina, this is Kurt. He's my English project partner."

Tina walked forward and held out her hand. "Hello, Kurt. It's nice to meet you."

He shook her hand, slightly confused. "So...are we planning on working on this today or...?"

Mercedes nodded. "Yes, it's just that most of New Directions likes to spend their lunch hour in here. Is that okay with you?"

She seemed slightly nervous, and he wondered about that. _I'm not a scary person...am I?_

"No, that would be fine with me."

Tina smiled at him before walking over to one of the chairs and placing her bag on it. "Why don't you join in on the mini jam session if we have one?"

Kurt wanted to say yes, he really did but-

"I'm sorry. I don't sing."

They both looked at him oddly. "Really?" Mercedes asked. "Have you tried to sing at all?"

Kurt sat down on one of the chairs. "Can we start on the project, please?"

Mercedes and Tina shared a glanced before Mercedes walked over to Kurt and sat down beside him.

"I'm going to go and get Mike, okay Mercedes?"

"That's fine, Tina."

Mercedes was giving Kurt a weird glance. He shifted slightly in his seat before reaching into his bag and pulling out his notebook. "So, do you have an idea of what we should do?"

They started getting to work, and five minutes later the rest of the Glee club came in, laughing and smiling; Kurt's grip on his notebook tightened just a bit.

Finn was holding hands with a short, brown haired girl, and Kurt could hear him talking about a 'Mystery Man' who had given his mom the time of her life the other night. Kurt let a small smile slip when Finn stated that anyone who could make his mom smile like that must be a good guy.

_Yeah, he's a good guy, alright._

He was writing out the outline for their project when a hand appeared in front of his face. He looked up to see a blond boy smiling down at him. Immediately, Kurt could tell that this kid had dyed his hair. He tried not to smirk.

"Hi, my name is Sam. What's yours?"

Kurt took the offered hand. "Kurt."

Sam gestured at the choir room. "Are you thinking about joining Glee club?"

And again, there was that small stab of pain in his chest that was completely unrelated to his heart conditions. He wanted to say yes. He wanted to say yes _so badly_, but instead he shook his head and began to put his notebook back into his bag. "No," he said softly. "I don't sing."

Sam raised an eyebrow at him. "That's what I thought too. But here I am! And it's great!"

Puckerman raised a fist from where he was standing by the piano and let out a loud whoop, then crossed the floor so that he was standing by Kurt. "Totally, dude. I mean, look at me. I'm Puckzilla. I'm a total badass, but this club is fucking _awesome."_

"Please do not use profanity like that in the choir room, Puck," the short brunet Finn had walked in with shouted.

"Fuck that, Rachel! Puckerman will say whatever he wants," he yelled at her, turning around and stomping over to her direction.

_They're all such good friends... Sounds weird, but it's true. I never thought I'd see the day Noah Puckerman would willingly be in a room with so many different people_.

It was hurting again.

He stood up, intending fully on leaving the room and telling Mercedes he'd just finish the outline by himself when he felt a hand on clap down on his shoulder; he stiffened, then looked over his shoulder. Finn was standing behind him, a serious look on his face.

"So, your dad is the one who took my mom out on a date?"

Kurt shrugged, trying to look uninterested. "I believe so, why?"

Finn stared at him for a while, then stretched out his hand. "Well, he treated her right, so...yeah. Nice to meet you, officially, child whose father is dating my mom."

Kurt let his eyebrow rise. "Uh...okay?"

Finn drew his hand back slightly. "I just... isn't that what people do when someone they love is dating someone?"

"I believe that's what _fathers_ do, Finn, and our parents _are_ old enough to decide who they want to date."

Finn lowered his hand more. "Oh..."

Then Kurt smiled, reached out and shook his hand. "Nice to meet you, Finn Hudson."

Finn laughed and returned the handshake. "My mom really likes your dad," he said happily. "I think it's about time she met someone. She's been alone for a long time."

"I know. It's been eight years for my dad-"

He was cut off as his phone rang, and the phone only rang during school hours if it was the hospital or his dad, so he held up a hand to Finn and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey, kiddo, how are you doing?"

"Dad? I'm fine. ...is there something you need?"

There was a shuffling sound, then a small 'there it is' before his dad talked to him directly again. "Two things, actually. First of all, I found that one book that I checked out from the library."

"You meant the one you checked out two years ago?"

"Yeah, that one. And second of all, your doc- Jonathan! Do _not_touch that car! Sorry about that. Your doctor called. And, uh, told me some things, and one of them is that it's not a good idea for you to be driving long distances, if you drive at all."

Kurt froze. "Why not?"

"Well, it's more of a precaution. Just in case something happens while you're in the car."

Kurt was planning on leaving the choir room, seeing as Mr. Schuester had just walked in and had gathered everyone around him to talk about something, but instead he chose the chair nearest to the door and sat down on it. "Will I be okay to drive home?"

"They said short distances shouldn't be a problem; actually, driving isn't a problem, but it's a precaution that we can take."

Kurt sighed, then nodded, understanding but not happy at all. "Okay... I'll see you at home."

"See ya, kiddo."

"And Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Return that book."

"I will."

With that he hung up the phone and let his head hang down. Things had been looking up, but with the warning from the doctor, he couldn't help but feel... finished. He felt sort of drained after the phone call, and not in the drained that he usually felt, but-

_Today is just _not_ a good day now..._

"Kurt?"

He looked up to see Tina standing in front of him. "Are you okay?"

He said yes, then looked over to see everyone in New Directions staring at him. "Oh, I'm sorry... I don't mean to intrude. I'll just..."

He stood up and made his way towards the door, but stopped when he hear Mr. Schuester call out to him. "Kurt...Hummel, right? I'm sorry if I got your name wrong."

"No, you got it right. What can I do for you?"

Mr. Schuester glanced him over, then gestured behind him; a blond girl walked up to him, her pony tail swinging merrily as she walked. "This is Brittany, Kurt. Brittany, this is Kurt."

"Hi," she said, holding out her hand. Then she leaned forward and placed a hand on his nose. "Your nose is soft. It's cute. Can I have it?"

Kurt stared at her. "Umm...?"

Mr. Schuester clapped a hand down on his shoulder. "That's Brittany for you. Actually, Kurt, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind doing Brittany a favor. She needs a dance partner for our practice run right now. Would you mind...?"

Kurt looked from Brittany to Mr. Schuester, then back to Brittany. Should he? He knew that a little exercise wasn't bad, but he didn't know how rigorous the dance routine was, or if he was even that good of a dancer, but Brittany was smiling at him, and how could he say no to that _face_?

"S-sure..." He said, and Brittany grabbed his hand and led him over to the rest of the group.

"Guys, Kurt said he'd dance with me!" She exclaimed happily. Then she looked down at his hands. "Your hands are soft, too. Can I just have every soft part of your body?"

"I'm sorry, Brittany, but I kind of need those body parts. Is that okay?"

She frowned. "Okay... I'd give you my hands... Or Lord Tubington's paws. I don't think he'd mind giving those away."

Kurt shook his head; he liked her. She was rather adorable.

The dance that the Glee club was doing was a slow waltz, and after hearing that, Kurt sighed in relief. If it had been the swing or the tango, he would have most definitely said no. But he could do a waltz. He _had_ taught his dad how to dance for his uncle's wedding.

Brittany was an _amazing_ dancer, and everyone else were great as well. The only one in the group that couldn't dance, besides the boy in the wheel chair (Kurt believed that his name was Artie) was Finn; a few times, Kurt had to jerk Brittany away from him when they got too close. Every time Finn got too close and Kurt moved them away, he'd look over Brittany's shoulder to see Finn giving him an apologetic look and him mouthing 'sorry'.

Kurt couldn't help but smile. This feeling was a good one.

When the dance was over, Brittany smiled up at him. "I like you. You're cute." Then she leaned over and placed a quick kiss on his cheek, then sauntered over to a black haired girl who was sitting on the side of the classroom. Kurt looked at her out of the corner of his eye. The way that she was looking at Brittany...

He flushed and turned away. He'd always _known _that he couldn't be the only gay person in the school, but now that he'd thought he'd seen someone, he didn't really know what to think.

"Well, Kurt Hummel," said a voice behind him. It was Mercedes, and she was smiling. "You can dance. Makes me wonder if you were lying about the whole not singing thing...?"

Kurt shook his head. "I just don't sing."

Mercedes sighed. "Well, Mike Chang over there," she said, pointing to an Asian boy who was swinging Tina around. "He can't sing either, but he's still apart of this club. Why don't you think about it?"

He had, oh how he'd thought about it. But if he did too much strenuous work, something bad could happen to his heart that couldn't be reversed. But he didn't tell her that. Instead, he shrugged. "I'll think about it."

She smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Alright, Glee club!"

Mercedes sighed. "Ugh... Rachel Berry. Sometimes I wish she'd just stop talking."

"Rachel?"

Mercedes pointed to the short brunet, who was wearing a hideous outfit that Kurt wanted to burn. "She likes to think that she's the leader of Glee club. And she's annoying. Like hell."

Rachel Berry was currently holding out two outfits, and proudly exclaiming that they were what the Glee club was going to wear for sectionals.

Kurt wanted to vomit. "Oh, those are _hideous_," he told Mercedes.

"I know, I know."

Unfortunately, Rachel seemed to have heard his comment and turned on him, huffing. "Excuse me, but seeing as you are not in Glee club and therefore have no say in the outfit choice, you should refrain from giving out crude comments."

Kurt stared at her; the room had gone quiet. "Seeing that outfit and knowing that everyone in the club has to wear it makes me _glad_ that I'm not in Glee club. As I said before, it's _hideous_. And it's hard for me to take you seriously when you look like the offspring of a snap dragon and a peacock."

Rachel looked taken aback.

'Ooh's went around the room.

Rachel's face flushed. "L-like you could come up with something better!"

"Actually," Kurt said, shifting his bag to his other shoulder. "I could. I could do _much_ better."

He suddenly found his arms being grasped by Puckerman, who looked almost desperate. "Please come up with something better! I hate wearing what Rachel has us wear!"

There were pleas coming from almost everyone in the club, and from his position over in the corner, Mr. Schuester smiled. "Fashion off then, Rachel, Kurt?"

Kurt shrugged. "Sounds fine with me."

Rachel huffed. "Fine."

Mr. Schuester held out his hand for Kurt to take. "Have fun and good luck." Then he leaned down and whispered, "I hope you win. Rachel does pick... _interesting_ outfits."

Kurt laughed. "I'll do my best, Mr. Schuester."

"Call me Mr. Schue."

"Okay."

And now the day was officially better.

He said goodbye to the Glee club members, then headed towards his next class, panting and slightly out of breath, but happy.

The rest of the day went by quickly, and before he knew it, he was standing in front of his locker, putting his books away and reaching for his coat.

A beeping sound from his phone alerted him to a new text message, and he pulled it out, then smiled.

_Having a good day? Mine has been pretty boring. ENTERTAIN ME! D:_ _- Blaine_

Kurt sighed and shook his head, all the while laughing softly to himself.

_Are you in your history class again?_

Blaine's reply was quick.

_Yes, and it's awful!_

Kurt glanced around at those walking past him, heading to class. He didn't really want to go to his next class; he was feeling more tired because of the dancing, and he knew that if he got too tired, he'd be forced to miss school tomorrow, so...

_I'm sorry. I feel bad that your history class isn't full of kids using their pencils as weapons and trying to kill the teacher._

Blaine's reply was quick.

_That happens in your school? D: O:_

Kurt let out a small laugh.

_Well, maybe I was exaggerating. By a lot._

He could almost picture Blaine's laugh, which was a sight that he loved a lot. Smiling, he finished putting his books away, and when his phone beeped again, he closed his locker and turned away to check his phone.

He had barely put it up to his face when he found himself being shoved back into his locker, and a voice yelling at him, "Get out of my way, _lady_."

A second later something cold, frozen, something that _hurt_ was hurled into his face.

He inhaled sharply, his breath catching in his throat.

He'd heard of slushie facials before, but he'd never gotten one, even when he wore his more (his dad liked to call them outrageous) interesting outfits. He'd been called names before, that was for sure, but he'd never actually been _given_ one.

It _hurt_.

He reached up and wiped the slushie from his eyes, then looked to his right to see the person who had slushied him.

Well, apparently the _two_ people who had slushied him.

Karofsky and Azimio.

_Great_...

He leaned back against his locker, then shook his head and headed out of the school before the bell for the next period rang. He just wanted to go home.

The first thing he did when he got home was take a long, hot shower, and while he was in the shower, he sang. He didn't sing powerfully, or heartfelt, he just sang, letting the words flow out of him. He sang about being free, being happy and loving life.

And then he cried. He cried because he would never be free, and while he'd had a few moments of happiness, he wondered if he'd ever have them again.

And loving life?

How was he supposed to love something that he'd never be able to have fully?

* * *

><p><strong><em>Author's notes: <em>**So... Less Blaine, more New Directions. Things are starting to ~move now.

I just wanted to thank every one of you who reviewed, favored, or alerted this story. It means a lot to me, so thank you.

Well, I'll be putting up the next chapter next Thursday, but possibly Wednesday (insert random wink here). Let me know what you think, please!

UO


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Glee.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter four<strong>_

* * *

><p>Kurt liked the days where he ended up staying home and had nothing to do.<p>

He'd sit on his bed, curled up with a blanket if the weather was cold enough for one, and either read or, if he was in the mood, draw, with classical music playing lightly in the background. His dad would go to the garage, and he'd have the entire house to himself. While he hated the reason he chose to stay home (either he was exhausted or just not feeling well), he loved the peaceful feeling he got to spend the day in.

Those days reminded him of his mom, and when she would glide through the house on a spring morning and sing. She'd have a smile on her face, and if she felt the urge, she'd bake something sweet. After she'd died, Kurt had tried to keep her tradition of baking sweet things alive on calm days, so, often his dad came home to cakes, cookies or brownies and had to eat them (although Kurt was pretty sure that his dad didn't mind in the least).

Today, though, he didn't feel up to cooking anything. At the moment, he was lying out on his bed, Mozart playing in the background, and he was thinking.

About Blaine.

About how geeky he was at times.

About hot cute he was...

Sighing, Kurt rolled over onto his side. _Don't go down that path, Kurt. Nothing is going to happen. Plus, Blaine probably likes someone else..._

God, it was hard to think that.

The previous day, Kurt had asked him if he wanted to hang out, and Blaine's immediate response was, _I'm sorry. I have plans already with someone else._

Feeling slightly angry with himself (of _course_ Blaine would have plans with someone else. He had a _life_. He was probably really popular at his school. Just because he didn't have a boyfriend didn't mean he didn't date), Kurt responded with, _Oh, it's fine. I hope you have fun._

_Oh, I will. I've been waiting for this for a long time. I'm so excited to hang out with him_.

And that settled it. Blaine liked someone else.

Okay, Kurt could handle that. It wasn't like he was able to have a long term relationship anyway.

Sighing, Kurt rolled over so that he was on his stomach, then gathered his pillow in his arms. Now today was looking gloomy, even though it was beautiful outside. "So, Kurt. What are you going to do to make this day better...?"

His first thought was to go and visit his mom, but as he was putting on his knee high boots he stopped, then thought of the pond that Blaine had taken him to. The ducks should still be there, and he'd enjoyed feeding them and watching them fight over the crumbs. Smiling, he went downstairs and opened the pantry, before grabbing the half loaf and heading out the door.

He was told that slow exercise was something that he should be doing more often, so, after taking one longing look at his baby, he walked down the driveway and headed in the direction of the pond. He estimated that it was about a twenty minute walk if he walked normal, and it was a nice day, so a longer walk wouldn't be bad.

He passed children out with their parents, and couples ditching school along the way. He saw elderly couples out for a stroll, young women shopping, and men hanging out, some even sitting on top of their cars. Everywhere around him people were laughing, and Kurt couldn't find it in himself to be mad at them.

While during one of his many hospital visits, Kurt had met another boy his age with the same heart problem as him. His name, as he'd introduced himself, had been Tony, and he'd been _angry_. While Kurt had moments of sadness, and times where he would wonder why and cry, he'd never been _angry_. Tony, while out on a small walk around the hospital, had been glaring at those walking around happily, the ones getting discharged and he'd glare and mumble and say that they didn't understand life and that they shouldn't be so happy.

All Kurt could do when he looked at them was envy them for being able to live.

During those days in the hospital he listened to music, and when his dad forgot to bring his iPod over, all he had was the steady _beep_ing of the heart monitor machine. It was a constant beat, and if he closed his eyes, he could come up with some sort of tune, and when that happened, for a while he could forget that he was in a hospital with a faulty heart.

When he could no longer pretend the monitor was music, he'd ask for paper and pens and he'd sketch. He didn't think he was that good, but the nurses said he had amazing talent. Sometimes, if they were on a break they'd pose for him, and he'd draw a quick doodle of them and give it to them as gifts.

He'd normally only be in the hospital for a day or two, but while in the hospital, time seemed to go by incredibly slow.

"Today feels like one of those hospital days..." He muttered to himself as he made his way over to the one bench that he and Blaine had sat on.

The ducks were wandering around the pond aimlessly, some poking at the ground in search of food. Kurt smiled at them, then took out the loaf of bread. He tore off a small part and tossed it at the nearest duck. It landed on the ground right in front of it, and it stared at if for a while, its head cocked to the side, as if it was expecting the bread crumb to jump up again.

When the duck decided that the bread crumb was safe to eat, it pecked at it, ate it quickly, then looked around quickly. When it didn't find anything, it sat down with a small squawk and didn't move. Kurt couldn't help but let out a small laugh. Picking off another piece of bread, he tossed it at the duck. When the crumb bounced into the eyesight of the duck, it jerked its head back, then looked up at the sky, as if saying thank you before eating the crumb quickly.

_I'm having way too much fun with this,_ Kurt thought as he tossed bread crumb after brad crumb at the duck. Eventually, after five more crumbs, the duck seemed to realize that the crumbs were coming from Kurt, and it waddled over to him, then sat down right in front of him, looking up at Kurt hopefully.

"You know, you're not as cute up close," Kurt said, tossing another piece.

The duck just quaked again before eating the crumb. He was about to toss another one when his phone rang. He put the loaf down next to him, then pulled his phone out. He heard a quack from the duck and he turned to stare at it. "What? I'll only be a second."

The duck cocked its head.

Kurt rolled his eyes then answered his phone. "Hello?"

"_Hey, Kurt! How are you?"  
><em>

Kurt's heart rate sped up involuntarily. "Oh, hi, Blaine. I'm good. How are you doing?"

"_I'm good, actually. I was just calling you to see if you were busy?"_

Kurt frowned. "No, I'm not. Why?"

He heard Blaine sigh. _"I felt bad for kind of blowing you off yesterday, so I wanted to make it up to you by surprising you at your house, but no one was home."_

Kurt could practically _hear_ Blaine's pout. "I'm at the pond, feeding the ducks."

As soon as he mentioned the word duck he heard a quack from his right and turned to see the duck he'd been feeding sitting beside him on the bench. "What the-"

"_What is it?"_

Kurt exhaled, then let out a laugh as the duck lowered its head and began to eat the bread on the bench. "I think I may have made a duck like me too much."

"_How so?"_

"Well, it's sitting by me on the bench."

"_How'd it get there?"  
><em>

"I have no idea."

Blaine laughed. _"Well, I hope it stays there so that I can see it for myself."_

Kurt frowned. "Wait, are you in Lima?"

"_I did say that no one was at your house, didn't I?"_

Oh, he had.

"Oh..."

"_I see the duck was distracting you?"_

"Maybe just a little."

_Not really... It was the fact that you had called me randomly like that._

"_Well, I should be there in five minutes, give or take the traffic contingent. See you soon."_

"Bye."

He hung up, then glanced down at the duck. "What do you think?" He asked. "Do you think that I'm getting my hopes up by thinking that there's a small chance he could like me some day?"

The duck laid its head down and let out a small quack.

Kurt sighed. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

He sat there in silence, waiting, and five minutes later he felt a tap on his shoulder and looked up to see Blaine smiling down at him.

"Hey," he said, turning back to look at the pond.

"Hi," Blaine replied, looking past him at the duck. "You weren't lying, huh?"

"Nope."

Blaine leaned over slightly, his hands in his coat pocket. "He's cute. Have you named him yet?"

Kurt glanced up at him, staring at him as if he had two heads. "No, I haven't..."

Blaine bent down so he was squatting and stared intently at the duck. "What about... Hezekiah?"

Kurt sighed. "You're not going to be swayed in this, are you?"

"Nope! Not in the least!"

"Fine, fine. Hezekiah is is."

Blaine beamed up at him. "Great!" He sat down next to Kurt (on the other side of Hezekiah), then inhaled loudly. "So, do you feel like doing anything fun tonight?"

Kurt shrugged. In all honesty, he'd planned on finishing his homework, maybe emailing Mercedes to see if she had her part of their project finished, and then going to bed. But the way Blaine had asked the question made him think that maybe Blaine had something in mind. "Sure, but I don't really think I have any fun games or anything..."

He and his dad didn't really have any fun boardgames at his house. They normally worked on cars together, or watched CSI reruns (Kurt was a secret fan of those murder shows). He didn't think that Blaine would be into those kinds of things, so he didn't know what they could do.

Blaine smirked. "Well, _Rent _is being performed at the local theater close to Dalton, and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me a few of the Warbler guys?"

Blaine had barely finished the sentence before had let out a loud, "Yes!" that caused Hezekiah to quack and hop off the bench. Hezekiah waddled over to the pond, turned around and gave them a loud quack, then headed on into the water.

Both Kurt and Blaine laughed. "So," Blaine said, turning his attention back to Kurt. "I'll take that as a yes?"

He nodded quickly. "What time does it start?"

Blaine glanced down at his watch. "Well, with the two hour drive there, if we leave soon we'll make it in time."

Kurt looked down at himself. "Oh, _god_. I look horrible! I need to change!"

Blaine caught his arm as he stood up. "Nope, no time to change! And you look _fine_. Trust me."

Kurt shook his head. "No, I don't. I-"

"Look just perfect, and plus. You'll be sitting in a dark theater room. No one is going to be looking at you and saying, 'oh, look at that boy right there. Do you _see _how his outfit isn't _Rent _material?"

He was raising an eyebrow, and Kurt sighed. "Fine, but I do have to let my dad know where I'm going, okay?"

Blaine shrugged and stood up. "Sounds fine to me."

It took a lot of persuading, but Kurt finally got his dad to let him go to the play, and the entire ride to Westerville he was smiling and listening to Blaine sing songs at the top of his lungs. Kurt told Blaine about the small costume battle he would be participating with Rachel for the sake of the Glee club's next performance outfit, and in return Blaine told him about Dalton, and about the two friends of his that Kurt would be meeting, Wes and David. "I think that you'll like them," Blaine said, turning into a neighborhood that was full of large houses.

"What are we doing here?"

"I'm picking Wes and David up here."

"Oh..."

"Don't worry," Blaine said, trying and failing to not smirk. "You'll like them and they'll like you."

Kurt fidgeted, trying to not think about how the whole talk sounded very much like the talk people in relationships gave to each other when meeting the others' friends and family. He twisted his hands together in his lap and looked out the window, worrying on his lower lip.

They pulled into a driveway to a rather large house. Kurt was only able to stare up at it in awe. "Wow..."

Blaine laughed. "Yeah, Wes' family is in engineering and they own some stalks and stuff like that." He then frowned. "Where are they?"

He placed his hands on the horn then held it down until an Asian boy stuck his head out of one of the windows by the front door. "Cool it, Anderson! We'll be out in a second!"

Blaine let the horn go for a second longer before he took his hand off. Kurt glanced around the neighborhood cautiously. "Are we going to get kicked out of the neighborhood by the police or something?"

Blaine laughed at him, and Kurt frowned, feeling the urge to slap him. "No, we're not. They're not _that_ uptight in places like these."

Kurt was going to ask him another question when the front door of the house opened and two boys walked out; the Asian boy and a black boy. Kurt watched them, trying to figure out who was who as they got into the car. Blaine put his hand behind the head rest and the black boy slapped his hand.

"Thanks for picking us up, Blaine."

"Yes, _thank you_, Warbler Blaine," the Asian boy said curtly. "My mother was most displeased with your needless honking to get David and I to come out."

Oh, so he was Wes.

David sighed. "Wes, your mom wasn't that mad. In fact, she was laughing."

Wes did not sound any less mad when he replied with, "It doesn't matter if she was laughing or not! Blaine did it to _deliberately _annoy me and- He's laughing. He's _laughing!_"

And Blaine was.

They'd pulled out of the driveway and were pulling out onto the main road, and already Kurt was feeling very left out and out of the loop. Maybe he shouldn't have said yes, even if the play was _Rent_.

"So, guys, this is Kurt. Kurt, these guys are Wes and David," Blaine said, pointing to the boys in the back seats with this right hand, his eyes never leaving the road.

David stuck a hand over Kurt's headrest. "Hello, Kurt. It's nice to meet you."

Kurt twisted awkwardly and shook David's hand with his right. "Nice to meet you as well."

David, who had unbuckled himself and leaned forward to actually see Kurt, pointed a thumb back at Wes. "That's Wes. He's kind of uptight."

"I am _not_ uptight!"

Kurt grinned. "I see."

"Hey!"

Wes and David, as it turned out, were _very_ interesting to hang out with. In fact, Kurt rather liked them. Throughout the entire performance of _Rent, _he found himself talking to all three of them, and Kurt _did not do that._ At all. It was _Rent_ for crying out loud, but the other two boys brought him into the conversation like he'd been friends with them his entire life.

He couldn't lie. It felt _amazing_ to be included.

They'd planned on stopping for ice cream after the show, but Kurt told them that he'd have to leave then in order to get back home before eleven. "But you guys go on and get ice cream. I'll just call a taxi or some-"

A hand landing on his lips cut him off rather quickly.

"Uh, do you _really_ think that you're taking a _cab_back?" Blaine asked, eyes wide. "I drove you here, I'm going to take you home."

Kurt shook his head. "But Blaine," he said, taking Blaine's (soft) hand off of his mouth. "That'll make it a four hour drive for you, and I know that you have school in the morning and I can't keep you out that late."

Blaine sighed, then looked over at David and Wes, eyebrow raised. "Guys?"

David punched the air. "Mini Ohio road trip! I happen to like road trips. They can be very stimulating," he said, winking at Blaine. Blaine glared at him.

Wes sighed. "Sure... Why not? I got all of my homework for the week finished anyway, and my mom thinks I need to _get out more_."

Blaine smiled at Kurt, then shrugged his shoulders. "Well, there you go!

Kurt frowned and began to worry on his lip again. "Are you_ sure_?"

The answer he received was his arm being grabbed, and he found himself being dragged out to Blaine's car and shoved into the front seat.

"Okay..." he muttered, slouching in the seat and sighing.

Blaine, David and Wes climbed into the car, all three of them grinning. "So, if I go a little bit fast on the highway, I can get you home in under two hours. Deal?"

Kurt sighed. "Fine, deal."

"Great!"

Kurt didn't talk for most of the ride back, thinking about Blaine and his relationships with Wes and David. They were so _close_, and even though he'd felt like a part of their group during most of the night, he knew that he wasn't.

And it hurt.

He hated that it hurt, because it _shouldn't._

"Kurt!"

He blinked and turned to Blaine, who was reaching out with his right hand to turn up the radio. "What is it?"

Blaine was grinning. "Sing this song with me! It's my _favorite_."

Kurt toned in on the song. It was Katy Perry's _Teenage Dream_. "Um... I'm good."

"Oh, Kurt, _please?_"

"Blaine, really. I don't have that good of a voice."

"_Please?" _

Wes groaned. "Just sing it with him, Kurt. He won't stop whining until you sing with him."

Kurt sighed. He hadn't really _sang_ anything in a year; the last time he'd really sang he'd collapsed, and since then he'd been too scared to really let himself sing again.

He froze.

_He was too scared to sing_.

He furrowed his brow and bit his lip. He'd told himself the last time that he was in the hospital that he wasn't going to let his illness live his life for him. He wasn't going to let it get the best of him. Gripping his hands together tightly, he smiled up at Blaine and said, "Sure, why not. Just don't say that I didn't warn you about my voice."

Blaine laughed. "I doubt that." He turned the radio up and began to sing. "_You make me, feel like I"m living a teenage dream, the way you turn me on..._" He stopped, then turned to Kurt, a hopeful look on his face.

Taking a deep breath, Kurt sang the next line that came on. "_My heart stops, when you look at me. Just one touch, now baby I believe, this is real. So take a chance, and don't ever look back, don't ever look back."_

Blaine now had a insanely large smile on his face as he joined back in; without him knowing, David and Wes had started singing as well.

Halfway through the song, it hit him:

He was _singing_.

He felt sort of alive, the kind where he forgot everything else except the song lyrics, the music, and those singing with him. Without knowing it, he started dancing along with the music, and he didn't stop when he felt himself getting breathless. He kept singing, trying not to cry because of how happy he was. He was _singing again_.

When the song ended, he was having some trouble breathing, but he found that he didn't care. He'd just sang, with Blaine, and he was so happy his face hurt because of the smile he had. Blaine was laughing, and Kurt found himself laughing along.

"And you said you had a bad voice!"

David leaned forward again and slapped his shoulder. "You have an _amazing_ voice, Kurt."

"I have to say that I agree. You are quite the talented countertenor," Wes said, his tone all business, but Kurt could heart he small smile on his face.

Kurt blushed, shrugging. "I never did think that I had a good voice. I thought that it sounded...girly."

Blaine winked at him, and Kurt felt the blush turn a deeper red color. "I think that it fits you perfectly."

Kurt smiled softly. "Thanks..."

He sang with them the entire ride home, and when he was waving goodbye at his porch, he still had a big smile on his face.

His dad was waiting for him in the living room when he entered his house. He was reading a book and he didn't look up with Kurt sat down beside him. "How was it?"

"I... I had a blast, actually."

"You sound shocked."

Kurt shrugged. "I kind of am. They included me in every conversation and made me feel like part of the group." He took a deep breath. "I sang in the car on the ride home..."

That made Burt put the book down. "Are you serious?"

Kurt nodded. "Yes... I had fun doing it, too."

His dad put a hand on his shoulder. "And do you feel okay?"

Kurt nodded again. "Yeah, actually. I'm slightly breathless, but that's because I was having fun. I mean, I'm not going to be singing all day now, but... I think I'm sort of getting over the scare I had."

The look and his dad's face made him want to cry. "God, Kurt..."

Kurt lifted a hand and put it on his dad's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Burt shook his head, still smiling that sad smile. "Yeah, I will be." He took a deep breath. "You look tired," he said softly.

"Yeah, it was a long, but fun, day."

"You should head on to bed, then."

Kurt stood up, gave his father a hug, then began to make his way to his room.

"Kurt?"

He stopped and turned back to his dad. "Yeah?"

Burt was smiling, looking a bit happier. "This Blaine kid, he's good for you."

Kurt flushed. "I... I think so too..."

And as he crawled into his bed after doing his moisturizing routine, he couldn't help but think that Blaine was possibly the best thing that had ever happened to him.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's notes: <strong>_Here be chapter four!

I do hope that you all enjoyed it (and there's even Wes and David. I tried to keep them as close to canon as I could. I hope that I succeeded). And for those who have read my fic _All Summer Long_, I have decided to make it a multi-chapter story about Kurt and Blaine's entire summer (and all of their ~exploring). I want to get most of it written before I upload the next chapter though, so it's going to stay "complete" until then.

Well, let me know what you thought about this chapter!

(and I'm totally pimping my friend out right now, but if you guys like Inception Arthur/Eames fics, check out OneWhoSitsWithTheTurtles. She's pretty much a goddess when it comes to A/E Inception fics. Like, fo'real.)

Anyway, I'm going to... Ew. I have chores. THAT'S A HORRIBLE THING, YOU GUYS. I HATE CHORES. THEY SUCK. AND IT'S LATE. WHY DO I HAVE TO DO CHORES? I WANT TO BE SLEEPING. ...or eating cake, but I'd like to be eating cake all of the time so... *shrugs*

Love,

UO


	5. Chapter 5

**_Disclaimer: _**I do not own Glee. I do, however, have my own glee, but I don't think that we're talking about the same 'glee' here.**_  
><em>**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter five<strong>_

* * *

><p>Rachel Berry did <em>not <em>have good taste in fashion.

At all.

She was holding up a bright purple and green shirt, telling the Glee club that this was the idea she came up with for the boys' shirts, and the girls' dresses would be the same colors, and all Kurt could do is turn his eyes away. The shirt was that awful.

Apparently the rest of the Glee club agreed completely with him. Half of the group looked like they wanted to throw up, and the other looked horrified at the idea of having to wear something that combined those colors together. So when he showed what he thought would be good for them to wear (the men wearing black shirts with red ties and the girls, red dresses with black sashes), he found himself being lifted onto Finn's and Puck's shoulders, the group cheering loudly with Rachel pouting in the corner.

That day, he was dubbed Glee club's personal outfit designer. Needless to say, he was happy.

He and Mercedes had finished their English paper, and had gotten the highest score in the class. After receiving her grade, Mercedes had hugged him. "You really are smart, white boy." Then she paused. "And you have great taste. I need a little help with that."

Kurt had nodded, then taken her out to the mall for a shopping date. They'd become inseparable since. The only sad thing was, while he was becoming close with Mercedes, it didn't leave a lot of time with Blaine. He hadn't seen the other boy in two weeks; they talked on the phone and sent each other text messages all of the time, but Kurt hadn't seen him in person since they'd gone to see _Rent_.

Blaine had been busy, he was told by David (who had stole his number from Blaine because, as David said, "he was a pretty cool dude."), hanging out with a boy named Jeremiah. Jeremiah, who had worked at the GAP with Blaine the previous summer (Kurt had to say that it was really hard for him to see that Blaine working at the _GAP,_ but David said that it was true), had come out as gay, and Blaine... well, Blaine had been spending a lot of time with him. Kurt decided then that Blaine probably liked Jeremiah, and had forgotten about Kurt. It was sad, but he'd figured that Blaine would have had to have gotten tired of him eventually.

He'd just wished that it wouldn't have happened so soon. It made him sad, because he really enjoyed spending time with Blaine. It made his days less happy, because Blaine was good for him.

And it _hurt_, because Kurt really, _really_, liked Blaine, but Blaine liked someone else. Once he'd learned about Jeremiah, Kurt didn't smile as often.

He missed smiling.

[*]*[*]

There was something..._different_ hanging out with the Glee club. For the first time in a long time, Kurt felt like a part of a group. Even if he didn't sing and dance with them, he was still a part (even though he was just designing the outfits) of the team.

"No," he said, watching as Tina turned around. "I like the skirt, but the color kind of clashes with the top a bit."

Tina looked down at her skirt, then sighed. "Yeah, I thought so. Thank you for your input though."

Puck walked up to him next and stood in what Kurt believed was Puck's I'm A Man and I Eat Wood For Breakfast pose. "Well?"

Kurt stared at him, then blinked. "You look like something that fell out of a lumberjack catalog. It's hideous and hurting my retinas."

Puck glared at him. "Dude, if you looked this good in this outfit, you'd change your mind."

"But I would _never_ look good in an outfit like that. _Ever_. And, you don't look good. As I stated previously, you look like something that fell out of a lumberjack catalog. Go away, _please_."

"Whatever dude," Puck stated before walked over to where Santana was eye Brittany like a lion looked at a deer.

_She's _so_ in love it's not even funny._

He stopped that thought before it went any father, because he could relate to Santana so well it scared him. That was how he felt about Blaine. He was pretty positive that he was madly in love with the other boy, but... Kurt was pretty sure that Blaine either had a boyfriend now or he wasn't interested in Kurt at all. But, Kurt was pretty sure that it was a combination of them both.

_Jeremiah..._

Kurt had never hated a name more than he hated that one. Blaine could have been with him if Jeremiah hadn't been there before.

He shook his head, then went back to his drawing. _Stop thinking like that, Kurt. Blaine isn't yours. He never was..._

And it wasn't like they could have had a relationship at all anyway. Kurt was going to die, and Blaine would be free to date anyone he wanted to.

_Like Jeremiah._

He frowned. _It's a stupid name. And I bet he has stupid hair. I bet it's fluffy and ugly and stuff._

"Kurt?"

Kurt glanced up to see Quinn standing in front of him. "Yes?"

She nodded towards the choir room door. "There's someone here to see you. Said he's here to pick you up?"

Kurt blinked, then gathered his stuff and walked towards the exit. His dad hadn't made an appointment for him, and he wasn't going anywhere that he knew of, so he was rather shocked when he rounded the corner and was promptly pulled into a hug by Blaine.

"Surprise!"

Kurt gasped, then pulled away slightly. "What are you doing here?"

Blaine shrugged. "I had a half day because of a staff meeting, so I thought I'd come here and take you out to dinner tonight. Don't worry," he said before Kurt could open his mouth. "I already called your dad and got permission. Although, I'm always wondering why every time I want to take you somewhere I have to inform your dad...?" He cocked his eyebrow and Kurt sighed.

"He's just... a little over protective, is all."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "Just a _little_?"

"Okay, so he's _really_ protective!"

Blaine laughed, and the anger Kurt had felt towards him earlier vanished completely. "Okay, let's go. I'm taking you to the ever amazing place called Breadstix where we will dine with amazing food and eat like royalty."

As Blaine dragged him out of the door, Kurt rolled his eyes. "You're in a fine mood today, aren't you?"

Blaine stopped halfway through the parking lot. "Well," he said, glancing over at Kurt from over his shoulder. "I finally got to see you. I haven't seen you in forever."

Kurt flushed and lowered his eyes to the ground. _Don't say things like that,_ he thought as he got into Blaine's car and the two headed off to Breadstix.

_You'll make me fall for you even more._

Breadstix wasn't the best restaurant in Lima, but it was a nice hang out place, and they had reasonable prices for high school kids paying for themselves. The booths weren't that awful to sit at, and the one that Blaine picked out for them was softer than most, and Kurt found himself sinking into it as Blaine talked.

"So, after the little Teenage Dream jam session in my car with Wes and David, Wes decided that it would be a good song for Sectionals. So, he wanted me to tell you thank you."

Kurt was confused. "What did I do?"

Blaine shrugged. "You sang it with me, and it convinced him that I _can_ sound good on female songs." Then he went back to frowning at the menu. "Don't they have _anything_ good?"

Kurt glanced down at the menu. "I think their pasta is pretty good, but I'm not sure. I've only been here a few times."

Blaine put his menu down. "Then pasta it is." He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry I've been absent lately. I've been busy."

Kurt picked the pasta that he wanted, then laid his menu down. "It's okay. David told me that you've been busy with some boy named Jeremiah..."

Blaine blushed, and Kurt's heart fell. "Yeah... He's... yeah. I've been with meeting up with him a lot."

Kurt sighed, then put his hand up to attract the waitress, trying to keep his mind off of _Jeremiah _and Blaine 'hanging out'. He didn't want to be mad during this. He hadn't seen Blaine in a while, and he wasn't going to let his stupid jealousy get the better of him.

The waitress wandered over to them, a big, rather fake smile on her face. "Hello, boys. What can I get for you this evening?"

Blaine handed his menu to her. "I'll have the fettuccine alfredo, please."

She wrote down his order, then turned to Kurt. "And you?"

"I'll just have some spaghetti, thank you."

"No problem. I'll be back as soon as your food is ready."

Kurt watched her go, then turned his attention back to the table. Blaine was drumming his fingers on the table top, head in his hand, staring at Kurt. Kurt couldn't look at him. Eventually, the silence started to get to Kurt, so he looked up and said, "So... How did you meet this Jeremiah?"

He wanted to mentally slap himself. _Why did you have to ask that, Kurt?_

Blaine, however, smiled softly, as if remembering a very fond moment. "Well, I worked at the GAP over the summer last year; yeah, I know. The _GAP_, but I wanted the money for the family trip my family took last July. I met him there; he was my manager. And, well, we kind of hit it off."

"Oh..."

Blaine was still smiling, and Kurt really didn't want to talk about Jeremiah anymore, so he bit his lip, then asked, "So, do you think that the Warblers are ready for Sectionals?"

Blaine seemed to perk up, as if he had noticed the uncomfortable silence between them. "Oh yeah, most definitely. We've practiced quite a bit, and the harmonies are amazing, so... Yeah, I think we're ready." He raised an eyebrow. "What about New Directions?"

Kurt shrugged. "I think that they're ready. I'm not sure, though. I'm just designing the outfits."

The waitress arrived and gave them their food, leaving with a passing hint at buying dessert. Blaine took a bite of his pasta, then hummed. "Not that bad," he said, taking another bite.

Kurt chewed his own softy. "Are you busy this weekend? I was thinking about going to the pond again, before winter hits and the ducks all leave."

Blaine snickered. "You like Hezekiah, don't you?"

Kurt shrugged. "He's grown on me. I love pets. I use to have a cat when I was younger, but we gave him away when my mom got sick."

Blaine put his fork down and stared at Kurt with an intense gaze. "Do you mind telling me how she died?"

Kurt sighed. "She got pneumonia, and it went untreated for so long her lungs started to collapse. She died in the hospital three days after she was diagnosed."

He was looking down, and so he was shocked when he felt someone's hand being placed on his. He looked up to see a sincere look on his face. "And how are you... today, I mean?"

Kurt smiled. "I'm doing much better, thanks for asking."

Blaine gave him a smile, then returned to his food. "That's good." He took another bite, then sighed. "I think that ice cream is a must after this. Would you agree?"

Kurt laughed. "Yes, yes I would agree."

[*]*[*]

Sectionals was soon, as Rachel kept reminding him (most days it was more than three times during school – _before_ Glee Club), even _after _he'd already given the club their outfits for the competition. It had taken him a month to finish all of the outfits, but other than how long it took, he was rather proud.

At the moment, he was sitting in the back of the choir room, drawing pad in hand, and watching the Glee club run through the songs that they'd chosen. He wasn't exactly paying attention, though, more like he was wishing. He was wishing that he was down there, with them, dancing and singing and having a good time.

He wished he was worrying about _homework_, and whether or not he was failing or passing a class. He didn't want to be looked at by certain teachers in a sad way; he'd rather they look at him in a disappointed way when he failed to turn in an assignment. When he handed an assignment in late, having been unable to finish it because he was too tired or had a hospital visit, his teachers would take one look at the dark circles under his eyes, his labored breathing, and give him this look of pity.

He absolutely _hated_ it.

He shook his head, looking back at the group of dancing kids. Finn had been dragged into a seperate corner, and Mike was trying to teach him how to do a certain move. Mike was trying his hardest, but poor Finn was _not _getting it at all. His long limbs were flailing, and when Rachel danced closer to him, she had to duck to avoid getting hit; Kurt had learned that last year, they'd been practicing and he'd hit her in the face, breaking her nose.

Finn was a nice guy, a little naive, but nice. Since his father was dating Finn's mother, Carole, Kurt had been spending quite a lot of time with Finn. He was convinced that soon, if his dad ever got the courage to pop the question, he and Finn would be brothers.

If only for a little while. Because Kurt wasn't going to be alive forever.

But, if his dad popped the question and got married _before_ Kurt died, then everything would be okay.

Right?

He and his dad had yet to tell Finn and Carole about Kurt's illness, deciding that they'd wait to see if the relationship between all of them lasted – which it would, Kurt would make sure of it.

Since he'd been spending a lot of time with the Hudsons, he'd not spend a lot of time with Blaine. The last time he'd spent a day with Blaine was the day that Blaine decided it would be fun to visit the zoo, and had spent hours dragging Kurt around. It was on that day that Kurt was told by Blaine that if he was going to be an animal, Kurt would be a penguin. And as he stared down at the penguins, Kurt realized he didn't really know what to think about that.

They'd been rather tired after the zoo trip, and they'd crashed at Kurt's house, sitting on the couch and watching TV. Kurt didn't know when they fell asleep, but the next thing he knew he was waking up, Blaine's arms wrapped around him, to the sound of his dad's truck pulling into the driveway. He'd prodded Blaine awake, then they'd said goodbye to each other ten minutes later.

Kurt hadn't seen Blaine since.

They still talked on the phone, and they still sent each other text messages, but... It wasn't the _same_. Only one month ago, Kurt had thought that Blaine was already tired of him, but that was proven wrong when Blaine showed up randomly at McKinley and had taken him out to eat.

Now, now Kurt wasn't sure if Blaine was busy, either with Sectionals (because that would be understandable), or _Jeremiah_.

At the thought of his name, Kurt frowned.

He'd met Jeremiah once, before the zoo trip. Blaine had asked for Kurt's help to buy a birthday gift for Wes, and Kurt found out that Wes liked some GAP clothes. Kurt had tried to resist because it was the fucking _GAP_, but Blaine had dragged him into the GAP store anyway, and then there he was.

Jeremiah.

With his curly, fluffy hair that Kurt swore was some sort of birds' nest, and his long legs and the fact that he was gay and Blaine was _interested_ in him... In the end, it had been Jeremiah that had helped Blaine pick the gift for Wes, and Kurt tried really hard, he really had, to hate him, but when he saw Blaine smile happily, and when he saw him laugh, Kurt _couldn't_. He couldn't hate Jeremiah, because, for some reason, Jeremiah made Blaine happier than Kurt could apparently.

So, Kurt would have to deal with it.

And he was.

"Hey, Kurt!"

He was pulled out of his thoughts at Finn calling his name. "Yes?"

Finn's smile was pretty much covering his entire face. "Do you think that I'm getting any better? I know I'm not great, but...?"

He looked so hopeful, like Blaine did when he wanted more ice cream than he should have, that Kurt let a small smile slip. "Yeah, you are. But just by a bit."

Finn nodded. "But still, a bit is a bit, right?"

"Yes."

"Are you and Burt still on for the dinner next weekend?"

From what he'd heard from his dad (which him 'hearing' it consisted of Kurt listening in on Burt's mumbling when he thought he was alone), Burt was planning something big early on Saturday (a proposal, Kurt assumed), and then all of them were going out to a small dinner. Unless his dad didn't go through with the proposal (which he _would_), he didn't think there was any reason for them to _not_ be on.

"I believe so."

Finn gave him a thumbs up, a "Great!", then went back to attempting to become a better dancer. Kurt chuckled softly.

His phone vibrated.

He glanced down to see a text from Blaine.

_So, are you busy at all tomorrow? - Blaine_

Kurt bit his lip, thinking. No, he wasn't. _When do I ever have actual plans?  
><em>

_No, I'm not. Why? - K_

He didn't get a response until one hour later, when he was standing in his kitchen and debating what to cook for dinner.

_Want to meet at the Lima Bean for some coffee and some time to catch up? I haven't seen you in forever. ):_

He didn't respond back right away. Instead, he took the chicken out of the fridge and prepared it for dinner, thinking. He _wanted_ to see Blaine, that much was certain. But the small, angry part of him wanted to say he was too busy, that he already had plans, and that they'd have to plan for some other time.

But he couldn't do that. He cared too much about him, he _loved_ him too much to do that to him.

"God, why couldn't I have just _not_ fallen in love with unavailable him?"

He snatched his phone up and typed a quick reply:

_Sounds great._

A few seconds later, Blaine responded.

_...Are you okay? Are you mad at me?_

If it had been anyone else, they would have gotten mad at his snippy reply, but this was Blaine, and they'd been completely honest with each other since day one, and that hadn't stopped, even when they weren't together all of the time.

_I'm sorry. I had a long day and I'm trying to make dinner but the chicken is being stubborn and mocking me._

When Blaine responded, Kurt could _hear_ his laughter.

_Birds don't like you, do they? Even the dead ones... Well, I think Hezekiah likes you. Maybe. The jury is still out on that one. I'll see you tomorrow then :)_

Kurt sighed, but smiled nonetheless.

Two hours later, he told his dad that he was going to be hanging out with Blaine again, and he received a hard stare. "What?"

"You need to tell him, Kurt."

Kurt froze. "Dad, I-"

"He _needs_ to know. You tell me that both of you are honest with each other, and then you're keeping this from him? No, you need to tell him. Preferably today, and then when you meet up tomorrow you guys can talk it over. That being said, I think we need to tell Carole and Finn soon as well."

His dad was right, no matter how much he wanted to say no.

He needed to tell Blaine.

But... he _couldn't_.

It wasn't that it was hard to type, because typing it was easy: _Hey, just so you know, my heart is failing and I'm going to die one of these days. Just thought you'd want to know. Do you want to split a cookie tomorrow when we meet?_

Because _that _would be great.

But Blaine... Kurt loved him, as a friend, and as a romantic interest.

"He needs to know, Kurt... You can tell him. You _can_. It'll all be okay."

He glanced over at his phone, then lowered his head and gripped his hair tightly. "Come on, Kurt, just do it!"

His phone vibrated and he froze.

It took him three minutes to reach over and open the message.

_So, are we still on for tomorrow? - Blaine_

Kurt stared at the text, trying to will himself to just _do _it. _Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it do it do it._

_Blaine, I need to tell you something,_ he sent, then took a deep breath.

_What is it? _

He gulped, then sighed. He had courage, and he was brave. He could do this...

_I have CHF. My heart is giving out and I'm dying._

He pressed send, because he was brave and could do that. Seconds later, his eyes widened.

He was _stupid_.

He was _completely stupid_ and he was _dying_ for fucks sake, and he'd _just told Blaine that his heart was giving out over text_.

He tossed his phone onto his bed and sat down heavily on his desk chair. "God, Kurt. Why did you tell him like that? Why, why, why, _why_?"

In a panic, he flew off of his chair and grabbed his phone, quickly pressing the power button and watched as it shut off, wanting to turn back time so that he wouldn't have sent that text. He couldn't believe that he'd _done_ that.

So, the next day, when Kurt arrived at the Lima Bean and waited two hours, alone, for Blaine to show up, he wasn't angry when Blaine never did. "I'd be angry too," he mumbled as he turned his cup around in his hands. Sighing, he stood up and exited the coffee shop, waving goodbye at the girl manning the counter. When he was outside, he tipped his coffee cup over let the contents spill out on the ground before tossing the cup into the trash bin and heading towards his car.

He got into his car and sat in his seat, not even bothering to pull out his keys as he let his tears fall. He'd ruined it with Blaine. This was the end of their friendship, he just knew it. And it was all his fault.

Leaning forward he grasped onto the steering wheel and sobbed, because he was stupid and he'd lost Blaine and he was _stupid_.

"Okay, Kurt. Enough of that, this is all okay. This is for the best... This way, you're leaving one less person when you die..."

It still didn't make him feel better.

At all.

Clearing his throat, he pulled out his keys and started the car, then drove home, trying to will away the feeling of despair that settled over him.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's notes: <strong>_So, I decided to update early this week! I was going to originally update early because you all reading this story are awesome, but now I'm updating because today has been pretty sucky so far. It hasn't been fun. I've been up for four hours and it's only eight in the morning so... Phooey.

Well, I hope that you liked this latest chapter!

Maybe if you're all nice I'll update early again next week. (wink)

Love you all!

UO

(...I want cupcakes...)

(WHAT IS WITH ME AND WANTING SUGARY ITEMS?)


	6. Chapter 6

**_Disclaimer: _**I do not own Glee.**_  
><em>**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter Six<strong>_

* * *

><p>Carole was a nice lady.<p>

She'd been a single parent for so long, and even though she had only been dating his dad for a little while, she'd already started treating Kurt like her second son. He liked her. He gave her make-overs, took her shopping, and helped her pick out what she would wear when his dad took her out for the night.

He was just worried what would happen to their relationship once she found out about Kurt's heart.

Finn was nice too. He was very oblivious to many things (his wardrobe being one of them), but he treated Kurt like another person, and not some gay kid who was going to 'contaminate him'. Kurt felt like, that with Finn, he might possibly have a brother. But, the same with Carole, he worried how Finn would take the fact that Kurt's heart was failing.

He just never thought that they'd find out like this.

It was Saturday night dinner with the Hudson's, and this time, Burt had decided to take them out to the cafe by the garage. He'd recently proposed to Carole (Kurt was proud to admit that he knew his dad would propose before his dad even did), and the soon-to-be family decided on having a mini-celebration. The cafe was a great place for those. It was a small place, but Kurt's mother had picked it out when he'd been three, but his dad had never actually taken him there in a _long_ time.

Kurt wanted to enjoy the moment, but he was finding it hard to pay attention to his dad talking, Carole and Finn laughing, all of the sounds around him. He hadn't been feeling good the entire day; he was so tired, and he didn't know why, because he'd been sleeping well for the first time since the day that Blaine had fallen asleep next to him on the couch. Walking from the parking lot to their seat had taken a toll out of him, and he was sitting next to Finn, breathless and dizzy and not even bothering to look at the menu.

He had yet to mention how tired and dizzy he was to his dad, because for the first time in a long time, his dad was _happy_ and laughing and he had his hand wrapped around Carole's shoulder; he and Finn were getting along great and who was Kurt to deny him of that?

Plus, it all meant that if and when Kurt's heart gave out, his dad would still have a family, and that helped ease the weight in his chest.

"And so, I'm thinking of taking Finn to see the football game this weekend. Would that be okay with you, Carole?" Burt looked over at Finn. "What do you think, Finn?"

Finn looked up from his menu and gasped at Burt. "You serious? I'd _love_ to go! That would be totally awesome!"

"Great. Would you be okay with that, Kurt?"

Kurt glanced up and tried to make his eyes focus, but his dad's face kept sliding in and out of focus, and he couldn't tell where he was actually looking. "That would be fine."

"You can invite Blaine to come over, or maybe rent a movie."

"Hmm..."

Burt then went back to his conversation with Carole, and Kurt went back to staring at the fuzzy outline of the menu. Maybe he was just hungry? He hadn't been eating a lot lately, since the day that he'd completely ruined his relationship with Blaine. Yeah, that was it. That was why he was so tired, and dizzy and breathless and-

"Kurt, buddy," his dad said loudly.

Kurt looked up again to see everyone staring at him. "Huh?"

There was a cough to his right and then the fuzzy outline of the waitress was in his line of sight. "Are you ready to order, sir?"

Kurt blinked up at her tiredly. No, he wasn't ready to order. He just wanted to go home and curl up in bed and sleep, but that would have made him sound like a five year old, so he nodded and said, "I'll just have a salad with vinegar and oil for the dressing, thanks."

She wrote it down, then said, "I'll have your orders out when they are ready."

When she'd turned the corner and was out of sight, he felt the heavy weight of a hand land on his wrist, and he heard his dad whisper, "Are you okay?"

"You look really pale, dude."

"Thanks, Finn. I really wanted to hear that. I'm fine, Dad, and Finn? Don't call me 'dude'."

The look his dad was giving him made his heart clench; he looked worried, concerned and sad all at the same time. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Kurt wanted to lie, say that he was fine and just having a bad day, but the truth was he had never felt this bad before, and it was scaring him. He shook his head, and as he did, he felt his world teeter to the side.

"Kurt?"

His vision went black, and he was falling.

"Kurt!"

[*]*[*]

"...so... you mean...?"

"Yes, Kurt's...my boy is... my boy is _dying, _Carole."

"Oh, Burt... I- ...is there any hope at all?"

_Sigh_

"He's not a rare blood type so the percentage of getting a heart transplant is a little bit higher, and I guess that now he's Status 1 he'll be put on the list for a donor but-"

"But that means he could go faster, huh?"

"Yeah..."

Between all of the talking, there were _beep beep_ sounds, as well as the sound of someone tapping their foot against what he assumed was the floor. He didn't even need to open his eyes to know that he was in the hospital; he'd woken up in the same situation many times before.

He let his eyes slide open, and he waited.

"Kurt!"

He'd only waited a few seconds before Finn's face was being shoved in front of his; a small smile appeared, and then Finn's face lifted slightly. "Burt! Mom! He's awake!"

Kurt let his eyes close and didn't open them, even when his dad ran a hand through his hair and held his hand. "What did the doctor say?"

Burt sighed. "You've been incredibly tired lately, haven't you." It wasn't a question, and Kurt didn't even bother to answer; they both knew the answer. "The doctor said...said that the reason you passed out was because your heart wasn't strong enough to pump blood to your brain. They-they said that it's gotten pretty big and-"

His dad cut off, and Kurt opened his eyes. "It's starting to not work, huh?"

Burt nodded, a few tears falling down his cheeks.

Kurt looked up at the ceiling and blinked rapidly, trying to keep his own tears from falling. If he cried, his dad most certainly would. "How much longer do I have?"

Burt shook his head. "That is completely up to your heart."

Kurt nodded, then closed his eyes slowly, inhaling deeply. "Hey, Dad?"

"Yes?"

"Will you do me one last favor?"

His dad nodded, his gaze intense on Kurt's eyes. Kurt tried to make his smile happy, but when he did smile, the tears began to spill over. "Will you let me start to plan the wedding? I've kind of always wanted to do that."

His dad let out a choked sob, then lunged forward and grabbed Kurt in a tight hug, pulling him close. "You can plan the entire damn thing, Kurt. You're going to beat this. You'll get a heart, I _promise_."

Kurt gripped the back of his dad's coat tightly. "Don't make promises that might not happen, Dad..."

It hurt to say that, because the child in him wanted to be able to believe in the words his daddy had said, because what daddy said just had to be true. But he knew that there were many people that needed heart transplants, and Kurt was a single number against many others. He wanted to feel selfish, but the feeling wouldn't come, and, sighing, he sagged against his dad's chest. "I'm tired..." he said softly, letting his eyes drip closed.

His dad sniffed, then nodded and stood up. "I'm going to get a nurse and tell the doctor that you're awake."

He walked out of the room, took Carole's hand and disappeared around the corner.

Finn was still in the room, though, and when he cleared his throat Kurt glanced tiredly over at him. "Are you hungry? I can go and get something from the cafeteria or..."

Kurt stretched out a hand and grabbed Finn's. He didn't want to, but-

"Finn...please, stay in here with me? _Please_..."

The next thing he knew, tears were falling down his cheeks, and Finn had him in a tight hug. "It'll be okay, Kurt."

He was just so _tired_ of it all, and for the first time in a long time, he let himself believe that it would be okay.

[*]*[*]

"You _what?_"

Kurt couldn't believe it. He just... No, Finn wouldn't have done that. He _wouldn't have_.

"I'm sorry, Kurt! I just thought that they needed to know!"

Kurt shook his head. "Finn, I'm not that great of friends with _any _of them! I mean, sure, we all get a long, and I do consider them my friends, and I hang out with Mercedes quite a bit but – They're not _close _to me, and I'm not close to them. Why, _why_would you tell them that I'm in the hospital?"

Finn put his hands up in front of him in a gesture of peace. "It's because they care about you, Kurt? All this week they've been asking if you're okay, and if you were sick and at home and... _Santana_ even seemed worried about you!"

Kurt was still shaking his head. "You... you didn't tell them the _reason_ why I was in the hospital, did you?"

Finn was silent.

"Oh my god..."

His soon-to-be stepbrother at least had the decency to look ashamed. "I just... Kurt, everyone in Glee club really likes you, even if they don't show it. Can't you just trust me with this?"

"I don't know if I can, Finn. I didn't... I... I told Blaine in the worst way possible, and now he's no longer talking to me. I just – I can't deal with losing other people as well, Finn, I _can't_."

Finn sighed, then took the seat next to Kurt's bed. He placed a hand on Kurt's shoulder and inhaled deeply. "I really am sorry, dude."

"Don't call me 'dude', _please_. You at _least_ owe me that."

Finn let out a small laugh. "Okay, okay. But, you know, they're all planning on coming to see you after school instead of having rehearsal."

Kurt's head shot up. "But... What about Sectionals? They have to be ready for that!"

"They care more about you. Rachel was the one who suggested it."

Kurt blinked, then sat back against his pillow, stunned. "Wow... I didn't think..."

"That people cared that much about you?"

"Well, yeah. Forgive me if I'm hesitant about this, but until this year I've never had any friends, or had someone I like, or a best fri-"

"Wait, you like someone?"

_Oh... Shit._

He hadn't meant to say that, and, trying to shift attention away from it, he said quickly, "So, are you still with Rachel or are you dating Quinn now, or what's going on with that?"

But Finn wasn't going to be persuaded. "Kurt... Who is it? Does he go to our school, or is he just someone close to..." Finn drew off. Then his eyes widened. "It's Blaine, huh?"

Kurt lowered his head. "Yes, I like Blaine."

"Dude, that's awesome! He's gay, you're gay, so you guys can _totally _date and-"

"And do you remember, Finn, that I told you that Blaine is no longer talking to me?"

Finn went quiet.

"I... I was stupid, and told him that I was dying over a fucking text message, and now he's not talking to me. It's kind of like he erased me a bit... Well, I deserve it. At least this way he doesn't have to associate himself with the dying kid, right?"

It wasn't until he had a tissue shoved into his face that he realized he was crying. He took the tissue and quickly wiped his tears away. "I'm sorry. Here you are, being insanely nice, and I'm whining."

"Don't apologize, Kurt. I mean, what are brothers for?"

Kurt glanced up at him then, a small smile gracing his face, and he leaned forward and gave Finn a quick hug. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure."

He took a deep breath. "Will you watch out for my dad when I leave?"

Finn looked confused when Kurt pulled back. "What do you mean, when you leave?"

Kurt was trying really hard not to cry, but it was getting harder and harder to not cry. "When I die."

Finn looked like he was going to interject, so Kurt held up a hand. "I am going to die, Finn. I think..." he turned his head away and stared out the window. "I think that by now I've accepted it. Unless some sort of miracle happens – which I doubt – my heart is going to stop working, and I'm going to die. But, I know that my dad is going to have a hard time with my passing, and so I'd like you and Carole to help take care of him, okay?"

Now Finn looked like he wanted to cry, so as Finn nodded, Kurt smiled and laid back down on the bed. "So, I'm sort of hungry, and the food that they have here is awful. Could you go get me a salad and some pasta from Breadstix, please?"

Finn nodded and stood up, "Of course, dude," and then he was gone, leaving Kurt alone in his hospital bed.

Sighing, Kurt took a deep breath and slowly got up from his bed, taking one step after the other to reach the window. He reached behind him to check to make sure that his gown hadn't opened, and when he was reassured that it wasn't he turned and looked out of the window and up at the sky.

There were birds flying, late on flying south for the winter. And as Kurt watched, he remembered being a small child who sat on his mother's lap and wondered why birds could fly and he couldn't. His mother had explained it to him, but it had been very hard for him to understand, so he'd turned to his mom and said, "I just think that they're really special and light and that's why they can fly."

There were times when Kurt wanted to be able to fly away from everything, like a bird; just let his wings open and take off, leaving the pain and the fear of dying behind and be _free_; he wanted to fly off into the sunset and be happy, like he'd been when he and Blaine had been close.

_But I ruined that one, didn't I?_

Yes, he'd ruined it. But as he'd told Finn, Blaine would be better off with Kurt out of his life.

[*]*[*]

For some reason, Finn had talked the Glee club out of coming to visit him. He'd brought Kurt his salad and pasta, then said that he had a test in his next period that he couldn't miss, so he'd have to leave. Kurt had said it was "fine, good luck on the test, and will you ask my dad to come visit me after work, please?" before watching Finn grab his stuff and leave.

He ate his meal quickly (it was much better than the hospital food, by a long shot), then attempted to sleep.

It was almost impossible to sleep, though, as he found his mind running through many things. Would he like his funeral to have _this,_ and how he wouldn't want anyone to be crying for him. He'd want them to be happy and to be smiling; that was why he had decided that he was going to have food at his burial. That way they could eat and laugh and be with other people who cared about him and _forget him_.

It was easier to forget something tragic and sad when other people were around you and laughing.

He sighed and tried to get more comfortable on his bed; he failed.

He was focusing on trying to find a nice spot, so the knock on his door was unexpected, because he knew that Finn was back at school, and both Carole and his dad were working. But when he looked up none of them were at the door.

Instead, Blaine was.

"Hi..."

Kurt stared at him, not exactly knowing what to say.

"So... Finn called me," Blaine said as he walked in and sat down on the chair next to Kurt's bed. "Told me that you'd passed out and that you were still in the hospital. He gave me your room number and told me to come visit you."

"Oh... Well, hi...?"

They both fell silent for a while, letting the beeping and the sounds of the machine fill the room, until Blaine asked, "Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

Blaine closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "That your heart's staring to shut down?"

Oh god, Finn had told Blaine that as well... _Why is Finn incapable of keeping his mouth shut? _ Kurt exhaled and gripped the hospital sheet until his knuckles turned while. "Yes."

"I see..." Blaine went silent again.

Kurt let out a small, quiet laugh. "Look, it's okay. You can say it."

Blaine cocked his eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Kurt looked down at his hands. "You don't want to hang out with the dying kid, it's okay. You're probably just here because you feel some sort of duty or whatever..."

Blaine's eyebrows rose quickly. "No, no! Kurt, trust me, it's nothing like that!"

Kurt didn't even want to look at him, because if he did, it would just confirm that he was lying. "Th-then why didn't you show up?"

Blaine let out a sigh, and it sounded so _anguished_ that Kurt's head snapped up to see Blaine holding his head in his hands. "Because someone who'd become insanely close to me and means so fucking much to me told me, _over text_, that he was dying and then refused to answer any of my calls."

Kurt glanced back down at his hands again.

Okay, so he'd handled that _completely _wrong – again. "I'm so sorry, Blaine. I just had to tell you before I lost my nerves, and then once I'd sent the text, I couldn't believe that I'd told you and I shut my phone off. I didn't mean to ignore you."

He heard Blaine sigh again. "It's okay, Kurt. I shouldn't have not shown up either. That was also stupid of me."

"I guess we're both idiots, huh?"

Blaine let out a strangled laugh that raised the corners of Kurt's mouth just a tad. "I'd have to agree on that."

Kurt finally looked up all of the way, and when he did he found his gaze locked with Blaine's. "I really am sorry."

Blaine's gaze softened. "I am too, Kurt. I am _very_ sorry."

Not wanting to cry, Kurt leaned over the railing of the hospital bed and pulled Blaine into a hug. "Can I tell you something?"

"Anything," Blaine breathed against his neck.

"...I'm terrified to die. I don't want to leave."

The grip Blaine had on him tightened largely. "I don't either. I want you to live, so _goddamn_ much that it hurts. There are so many things that I want you to see, like New York and Broadway and the ocean."

Kurt nodded and let the tears fall again. "Thank you," he whispered.

"For what?"

"For not giving up on me."

Blaine pulled away slightly and stared at him in the eyes. With how close they were, Kurt was able to make out all of the different colors in Blaine's eyes, and he loved it. "I will _never_ give up on you, Kurt. I'm going to be with you until the end, understand?"

Kurt let out a sigh of relief and moved back into the hug. "Thank you again, Blaine. You always seem to know what to say in these kinds of situations."

He felt Blaine smiled against the top of his head, and then Blaine spoke. "_There's a hole in the world, like a great black pit, and it's filled with people who are filled with shit."_

Kurt sighed. "Blaine?"

"Yeah?"

"Sweeny Todd? Really? We were having a moment, a nice one at that, but then you ruined it."

Blaine laughed, and Kurt felt like laughing along with him. "There's the Kurt I know." He went silent again, then muttered, "Is it okay if I ask you to tell me about it?"

Kurt stiffened, then bit his lip, not wanting to go into all of exactly. But who else would Blaine go to? He wasn't going to make his dad tell the story again, because he'd, no doubt, already told Finn and Carole. He took a deep breath.

"I have what is called CHF, or congestive heart failure. I have systolic heart failure. It means my heart has issues pumping and ejecting the blood out. And now my heart is starting to shut down. My heart stopped working, and I had a total circulatory collapse during dinner the other day."

Blaine's grip had tightened around him while he'd been talking. Kurt was going to try and tell him that it would be okay (he didn't know if it would), but he yawned as soon as he'd opened his mouth. He wasn't sure if he was just imagining it or not, but it felt like Blaine had placed a kiss on the top of his head. "Go to sleep. I'll wait here until you wake up."

Kurt nodded against Blaine's chest. "Okay. Talk to you soon."

He was still wrapped up in Blaine's arm when he woke up; Blaine had seemed to climb halfway on to the hospital bed, and he was laying awkwardly around Kurt, one of his hands placed on Kurt's head, and the other wrapped around his waist. Sitting up slightly so that he didn't wake him, Kurt glanced down and smiled softly.

Blaine looked so much like a puppy it was insane sometimes.

"Mr. Hummel?"

He looked up to see a nurse standing awkwardly in the doorway; he sat up slowly, then ran a hand through his hair. "Um, yes?"

"I'm sorry, but visiting hours are over now. I'm afraid that your friend needs to leave." She seemed sad to inform him of the hospital rules, but he knew that Blaine did need to leave. Westerville was about two hours away from Lima, so Blaine would need to leave to get home on time.

"Oh, okay. I'll wake him up then."

She nodded, then left the room, and Kurt turned slightly in Blaine's arms and tapped his cheek. "Hey, Blaine..."

Blaine let out a small hum, then nuzzled his face into Kurt's side.

Kurt frowned to stop himself from blushing. _He has Jeremiah, Kurt. You can't think that._

"_Blaine_."

Blaine stirred, then blinked his eyes open. "Hello..." he muttered, yawning. "What's up?" Then, suddenly, he shot up, almost knocking Kurt off of the bed, and grabbed his shoulders. "Are you okay? I mean, do you feel okay?"

Kurt didn't know why he laughed, but he did, and even though Blaine was staring at him as though he was crazy and needed help, Kurt couldn't stop laughing. "No, Blaine, I feel fine, it's just that visiting hours are over, and you need to go home."

Blaine blinked at him for a while, then deflated and sighed. "God, I thought that something had happened."

"No, nothing happened. My hearts still pumping, like a champion," he said, smile still on his face.

Blaine sighed again, then rubbed his eye. "So, I need to leave now?"

"Yes, that is what I said."

"Mmkay," he said, slipping off of the bed and grabbing his jacket off of the chair. "I don't know how you manage to sleep on that thing."

Kurt shrugged. "You managed just fine."

Blaine laughed. "I guess that I did, huh?"

Blaine walked over to the doorway, then smiled at him. "I'll come by to visit you in two days. I'd come tomorrow, but I have a history final and I am _not_ ready for it."

Kurt snickered. "Put off studying again? What was it this time? Video game party at David's?"

Blaine grimaced. "No, it was a pizza party that Wes' mom decided to host. Apparently, Wes needs to 'have fun', because according to his mom, he never does."

"I can actually see that happening. Wes is really uptight."

Blaine shrugged and waved. "Let me know when your dad brings over your phone tomorrow, and then I'll call you, okay?"

"Sure."

Two minutes after Blaine had left the room found Kurt walking down the cardiac wing hall as fast as he could towards the elevator. Blaine was just getting in, and as the door began to close, Kurt called out, "Hold the elevator please!"

Blaine stuck his hand out to stop the door from closing as Kurt stopped in front of it, panting. "Hey, are you okay?" Blaine asked, stepping out of the elevator and allowing the door to close.

Kurt took a deep breath, inhaling through his nose and out through his mouth, trying to calm himself. "Are..." he paused, trying to take in as much air as he could.

"Hey," Blaine said softly, taking his hands and leading him over to some of the waiting chairs. "Why did you run after me like that?"

Kurt tipped his head up, his mouth slightly open, and he sighed, then he let his head fall back down. "Are... are we okay?"

Blaine blinked. "What... What do you mean?"

"I'm sorry that I told you about my... condition the way I did."

Blaine reached up with his hand and placed it on his shoulder. "No, it's okay. You don't have to apologize. Really, it's okay."

"So... We're...?"

"We're just fine, Kurt. Really."

Kurt smiled up at him. "Thank you..."

Blaine sighed, but he was smiling as well. "Come one. I'll take you back to your room."

And when Blaine said goodbye for the second time, and Kurt promptly fell asleep, he had to say that a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.

[*]*[*]

"Are you sure you're okay, boo?"

Boo.

That had been the name Mercedes had bestowed upon him the first day that the _entire_ Glee club (including Mr. Schue) had come to visit him in the hospital. Most of the Glee club had clobbered him with hugs, and Brittany had decided to sit on his lap the entire time they'd visited.

Puck had been angry, though, exclaiming, "I need to _punch_ something!" after Kurt had described what was going on with his heart. Then he'd stalked over to Kurt's bedside table, and asked calmly, "Do I need to kill someone so you can get the heart you need?"

Kurt, wide-eyed, had shook his head frantically. Puck had then hugged him and said, "Well, I will if you want me too. You're one of us, dude."

Kurt then told him not to call him 'dude', and was pulled into a deep conversation with Mercedes. Since that day, she'd texted him, called him, and visited him more than Blaine and his family did. She was a very _different _kind of person, but Kurt had to admit, he liked her. A lot.

"I think that I'll be fine to have my dad take me home today, Mercedes."

She smiled at him. "Okay, _fine_."

He frowned. "Are you skipping class to see me?"

She shrugged. "It's no biggie. I told Mrs. Larson that I'd be bringing you the homework from the last week, so she said she'd forgive me for intentionally skipping her class."

"Well, that's new..."

"She likes you."

"Oh, really?"

"Really. She knows that we're friends, so she's been asking how you've been doing and stuff. Being all... caring teacher-y. It's rather odd, I have to say."

He leaned back against his pillows. "Hey, thanks for coming to see me."

She smiled at him. "Anytime, boo. So, your dad said he'd be picking you up in two hours."

"Yes, he is. He would have been here earlier, but he had to go to work for _some_ time today to make up for all of these godawful medical bills."

His face fell. Mercedes abandoned her amazing and _so_comfy chair to sit next to him on the hospital bed. "What is it, Kurt?"

He reached out and grabbed her hand. "I hate that I'm doing this to him. He's working a lot so that we'll have a cushion if we end up needing I, because something could happen that could be very costly. I feel like a burden. I mean, he's so tired and worn out, but he always finds time to visit me and-"

"Kurt?"

It wasn't Mercedes that had spoken, and when he looked up, he saw his dad standing awkwardly in the doorway with Finn, Carole and Blaine.

"Oh... Hi, Dad."

His dad looked even more tired, and he sighed audibly. "Guys, could you let me speak to Kurt alone for a while? I'll let you know when you can come back in."

Mercedes reached up and ran a hand through Kurt's hair, whispered, "I'll call you later, boo. Send me a text to let me know when you get home, okay?" Then she stood up and left the room; she grabbed Blaine's hand and the two walked out of sight. Finn looked like he wanted to stay, but Carole took his arm and dragged him away.

Finally, Burt walked over to Kurt's bed and sat down on the end. "Kurt, I... Is that really what you think? That you're a _burden_?"

He wanted to say that no, that's not really how he felt, but when he opened his mouth, he was unable to say no. His dad sighed, then reached out and began to run a hand through his hair.

"Listen, Kiddo. You are _never _goin' to be a _burden_. I love you. I will do anything for you, and even if that means that I'm a little more tired or worn out, I'm willing to take it. You're my little baby boy, Kurt."

Kurt tried not to, but he was unable to stop the smile from spreading across his face. "Dad," he said, "You know that I don't like being called your 'little baby boy'.

Burt laughed. "I know, I know. I just want you to know, that no matter what you do, even if you kill someone, or you date the wrong person who hates your family... I'll love you. I'll always love you. You mean the world to me, Kurt, and I don't want you to forget that."

Kurt reached a hand up and placed it on his dad's hand. "Thank you, Dad." Then he paused. "How come you're here early?"

Burt shrugged. "I had Charlie take over the car that I was planning on working on. He needs the money; his wife had an early pregnancy and so they need the money to pay for the ambulance bill."

"You're such a nice person, Dad."

Burt smiled. "Got that from your mom," he said proudly.

Kurt leaned up and pulled his dad into a hug. "I miss her, a lot more these days."

Burt tightened the grip he had on him. "I miss her too, kiddo. I miss her too."

"But, I really like Carole, and Finn." He pulled back slightly. "So, when we get home, I'm going to have to steal Carole from you, okay? The two of us have wedding dresses to look over, and I need to find out where she would like to have it so that I can find the right colors for the wedding. Since it's almost Christmas, I would think some sort of green, or a red, but nothing with the two together. That would be awful and-"

Burt laughed. "Okay, okay. I'm going to go find your doctor so that I can sign your release forms. I'll see you in a minute."

Kurt waved at him as he left the room, then smiled as Blaine, Finn and Carole walked in. "Hi," he said happily. "Dad just went to get my release forms." His smile grew. "I get to go home today," he said, reaching over to his side. "And they gave me this pager." He held it up for them all to see.

Finn reached over and took the pager out of Kurt's hand. "What's this for?"

"It'll beep if they have a heart for me. They gave Dad one too so that he can have one with him wherever he needs to be."

Carole smiled at him and began to run a hand through his hair. Kurt frowned. "What is it with everyone and my hair today?"

Blaine snickered, then he also began to play with Kurt's hair. "It's because you're actually _letting_ people touch it."

"Well, maybe I should stop then?"

"You won't," Carole said.

"Why not?"

"Because you like it," Blaine finished, still playing with his hair. Kurt leaned towards his hand, unwilling to admit that he did, in fact, like it.

"Carole," he said quietly, feeling himself falling asleep.

"Yes, honey?"

"We have a lot of work to do today, when I get home. All of that wedding stuff..."

Carole's smile softened. "Of course, honey. I'll get my wedding magazines out and we can look at them later..."

He smiled, and the last thing he remembered before falling asleep was Blaine's voice in his ears.

"Go to sleep, Kurt. We'll all be here when you wake up."

And, four hours later when he woke up, they were.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Author's notes: <em>**You guys.

You guys...

You _guys_.

You are all so AMAZING, I JUST WANT TO HUG ALL OF YOU. I'm still kind of in shock about how the last chapter was received. (and now I'm slightly nervous about this one as well. I hope that it was good!)

Because you were all just _that_ amazing, I updated early again! I won't be able to update early again, though, so I'll be updating next Thursday, like normal. BUT! NO CLIFF HANGER, RIGHT? THAT'S A GOOD THING, RIGHT? AND LOOK, THEY MADE UP. I COULDN'T KEEP THEM APART FOR LONG. IT'S IMPOSSIBLE.

Ahem...

Again, you guys are freaking _awesome_! I give you cookies.

*gives cookies*

Love you all,

UO


	7. Chapter 7

**_Disclaimer: _**I do not own Glee. Nor, does it seem, that I own any patience as well. But not owning patience seems to be a good thing for you guys, so... yay?**_  
><em>**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter Seven<strong>_

* * *

><p>Even though he and Blaine were talking once again, Kurt didn't feel like their relationship got back to how it had originally before their time of not communicating until later. Blaine told Kurt over coffee sometimes after Valentine's day that he thought that it took only a couple of weeks for them to be back to normal. Kurt said that he thought that it took until after Christmas.<p>

"Really? Christmas?"

Kurt nodded. "Yeah," he said softly, turning the coffee cup around with his fingers. "I don't know... You were suddenly just _there_ and you hadn't been before then, so it was just kind of weird, you know?"

It was true. When Kurt had been released from the hospital, Blaine suddenly became the third boy to live underneath the Hummel roof. He'd been there when Kurt had walked through the front doors after having been discharged; he had been there when Kurt had woken up at nine in the morning on the Saturday after leaving the hospital; he had brought Kurt coffee on Monday after Dalton had let everyone out; he'd _turned down Jeremiah's offer to hang out_ on the next Wednesday.

Kurt's heart fluttered, remembering that phone call he'd overheard.

"_Oh, hey, Jeremiah. Hmm? ...oh, yeah, I'd forgotten about that."_

…

"_No. I-"_

…

"_No, I'm at Kurt's. …"_

…_  
><em>

"_Yeah, yeah, I know. I was looking forward to that as well, but Kurt... I need to be here with him. He's- He's important to me, you know that."_

…

"_Sure. And I'm sorry. ...Huh? Don't apologize? ...Okay? Okay..."_

…

"_I know I can, I know, but I don't think that now is the right time."_

…

"_I-I'll think about it. Goodbye, Jeremiah."  
><em>

It had been an awkward phone call from what he could hear from Blaine's side of the conversation. When he'd heard Blaine hang up and sigh, Kurt had hurried back into his room as quick as he could, and a few seconds later Blaine walked in with the glass of water he'd left to get.

"Do you want to finish the movie now?"

Blaine stuck around their house until after Christmas; he'd stopped by to give Kurt a Christmas gift, a quick hug, but left quickly, leaving Kurt to gasp and stare at the newly released Marc Jacobs jacket that was sitting, nicely folded, in the gift box that Blaine had given him.

After that gift, though, their relationship seemed to go back to how it had been before Kurt had spilled that he was dying. Blaine came over every once in a while, and their texting slowed down, but only by a bit. He _did_ miss seeing Blaine over all of the time, because he wanted to see as much of Blaine as he could, and his family (even Carole and Finn; they'd moved in two weeks after Kurt had been released from the hospital. Sharing a room with Finn was horrible) liked Blaine, but he was glad that things were going back to normal.

[*]*[*]

"So, these rascals are Katie," Blaine said, pointing to the little girl with dark, curly hair. "And James," he said, pointing to the little boy running around the living room with an airplane clutched in his fist.

It was a rather warm March afternoon, and Kurt was currently standing in the Anderson living room, looking at Blaine's younger siblings and attempting to make them not cry. He wasn't the best with kids, even though his dad often joked that he'd make the best father. He really wanted Blaine's siblings to like him.

Kurt smiled at them, and then found Katie pulling on his pant leg. "Hello," he said to her.

She stared up at him with large hazel eyes. "You're taaaaaall, mister! Taller than B is!"

Kurt glanced over at Blaine. 'B?' he mouthed.

Blaine shrugged. 'Nickname,' he mouthed back.

Katie tugged on his pant leg again. "Kuuuuuuuuurt?"

"Yes, honey?"

She stuck out her bottom lip and her eyes began to water.

_Uh oh... Don't cry don't cry don't cry._

"B won't get us any cake, and my tummy hurts, and only cake will make it feel better!"

Kurt laughed, then looked over at Blaine, who was shaking his head but smiling. "Would you mind if we all made a cake, Blaine?"

Blaine let out a small chuckle. "No, I don't mind." He clapped his hands together. "C'mon, guys! Let's go show Kurt how _amazing _we are when it comes to baking cakes!"

"Yay!"

Katie reached up and grabbed his hand. "C'mon, Kurtsie! C'mon! I'll show you th' kitchen!"

James appeared next to him and grabbed his other hand. "Yeah, yeah! We'll show you, we'll show you! We know where _all _of the rooms are in our house. That's cool, right? It is _so cool, _I think, since we have _lots _of rooms."

He felt Blaine approach him from the back and push on his back. "Yes, 'Kurtsie', let's show you the kitchen."

Kurt laughed and let himself be dragged into the kitchen, glad that Blaine had asked him to come over at the last minute.

[*]*[*]

"_So, would you like to do me a _huge_ favor today, Kurt?"_

"_And what would that be?"_

"_I'm stuck in my house, babysitting my little siblings."_

"_And you need me because...?"  
><em>

"_They want to meet you."_

"_They want to meet _me..._?"_

"_Yeah, and I kind of... _I_ want them to meet you."_

"_Why would you want that?"  
><em>

"_Um, hello? Best friend, Kurt Hummel."_

"_Okay, but still..."_

"I'll take us out to get tacos and burritos."

"_You're bribing me with Mexican food?"_

_"I totally am, aren't I?"  
><em>

"_Yes, yes you are. And it's working. Fine, I'll be over there in three hours."  
><em>

"_Yay!"_

"_See you later, Blaine."  
><em>

"_See you soon, Kurt."  
><em>

[*]*[*]

As it turned out, neither Katie or James could cook. Not like Kurt had expected them to be able to cook; they were five.

Blaine on the other hand...

He was helpless.

"Blaine, just... Did you put the eggs in _before_ they were supposed to? And is that... _is that soy sauce?"_

Blaine pouted. "I'm not much of a cooker, Kurt. You know that."

Kurt looked back down at the cake batter. "Guess I'll just have to give you those lessons I promised you sometime, huh?"

"I think so."

Katie looked like she was going to cry. "But... I wanted _cake_."

James sighed, then wandered out of the room. "Girls are _weird,_" he said to Kurt as he passed him. "I don't like them."

Katie stuck her tongue out at James. "Boys _smell_."

James' face turned slightly red. "We do not! Girlshave _cooties_."

"No we don't! You boys are just jealous because girls are prettier than you, so _there_," she finished, sticking her tongue out at him. "B," she said stiffly, turning to look at Blaine. "Take us to the park, please. I need to play outside, but _far_ away from Mister James The Ugly Face, okay?"

James gasped. "You mean... You won't play with me, Katie?"

Katie shook her head. "No, I'm not going to play with you."

James ran towards her and hugged her. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! Are we friends again?"

Katie was still, then she turned in James' arms and returned the hug. "Of course we're still friends! We're bestest friend, remember?"

"I do, I do."

Then, suddenly, they grasped hands and turned on Kurt and Blaine. "Can we go to the park," they said at the same time. "Please?"

Kurt turned his head to the side slightly to see Blaine smiling at him. "Park?"

Blaine nodded, then clapped his hands together a few times. "Okay, you two! Go and get your shoes on and then we'll go to the park!"

"Yay!" They cheered, and rushed out of the room.

[*]*[*]

It was nice and quiet at the park.

There weren't many people, so James and Katie had the playground mostly to themselves. They were giggling, shrieking and laughing, running around the playground, smiling the entire time. He and Blaine were sitting on a bench off to the side of the playground, watching the two kids. Blaine was laughing as James slipped and fell, then got back up and tackled Katie to the ground, both of them giggling.

"They really like playing outside, huh?"

Blaine nodded. "That they do."

Then he looked over at something over Kurt's head. A huge smile grew on his face and he stood up. "I'll be _right_back, okay?"

Kurt frowned. "Blaine, what-"

But Blaine only smiled wider at him, then he dashed off, leaving Kurt staring after him. "Okay, then..."

Blaine didn't return five minutes later, nor did he return ten or twenty minutes later. Eventually, James and Katie walked up to him, James holding Katie's hand and Katie trying to hide a yawn. "We're tired, Kurtsie. Can we go home now?"

Kurt nodded, stood up and took James' hand. "Let's go find your brother, okay?"

They nodded, and began to head in the direction Blaine had left in.

Five minutes later Kurt spotted him standing next to a small food stand, talking to someone. By this point he was carrying Katie in his arms and taking slow, steady steps. He had only been carrying her for a minute, but he was already out of breath.

"Blai-" He cut himself off, however, when he got close enough to see who it was that Blaine was talking to.

Blonde, curly, poofy hair. Tall and wearing GAP , smiling and laughing for the first time Kurt had seen in a while.

_Jeremiah_.

Kurt felt himself stiffening, trying to not be affected by seeing Blaine _that_ happy with Jeremiah. _Stupid, fucking Jeremiah..._

James had spotted the two by now, and he reached up and tugged on Katie's leg. "Look, Kates, it's Jerey!"

Katie opened her eyes and looked over, then she smiled, wiggling to be put down. Kurt placed her on the ground gently. "Jerey, Jerey," she called, running over to him, James following her. Kurt walked slowly after them, his head down.

Jeremiah was bent down and playing with James and Kate by the time Kurt reached them. Blaine saw him then, and he said, smiling, "Kurt, hey!"

The stiff and uncomfortable way he said it set Kurt on edge and he turned his head to the side, looking around at the park, and not at Blaine. He did look back when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Blaine was looking at him oddly, and Kurt really didn't know what to say.

"Are you okay?"

Kurt shook his head. "I'm tired. I think that I'm going to head on home, okay?"

Blaine's frown increased. "Kurt?"

Kurt took a step back. "It's getting pretty hard to breathe, so I'm going to go get my car and go home. I'll text you when I get home. Okay?"

Blaine took his hand away from Kurt's shoulder. "Okay... Can I at least walk you to your car?"

Kurt shook his head and began to walk away. "I'll just call you later. Say goodbye to Kate and James for me!"

Blaine waved at him, the frown still on his face. But when Kurt called him at eight that night Blaine sounded really happy.

_Jeremiah probably made him happier. If he makes him happy then..._

He shook his head and climbed into bed. _Be happy, Kurt. You are going to see Sectionals tomorrow. You're going to cheer your friends on, and whoever wins, you'll be happy for them._

With that thought, he settled down and slipped into a deep sleep.

[*]*[*]

Lately, Blaine had been... Odd.

Kurt really didn't know why, but every time they talked or met up, he was twitchy, and he acted like he didn't know what to do around Kurt. He'd open his mouth, then shut it quickly, and repeat the process a few times before he gave up and sat there in silence, leaving it to Kurt to come up with something to talk about.

And so, when Blaine had asked him to come over at four rather randomly, he'd called up Mercedes to see if she wouldn't mind driving him over to Blaine's house (his father didn't really want him driving anymore, so he was reliant on his friends – it was odd that even _Puck_ had said he would take Kurt anywhere if he needed it, but Kurt was grateful). She'd said yes, and they'd arrived at Blaine's house a few minutes early.

"_Hey, can you come over at around four today? I have something I _need_ to tell you."_

He was prepared for whatever Blaine wanted to talk to him about; he was prepared if it was good news, bad news, or if Blaine was going to be telling him that he was part leprechaun or something. What he was _not_ prepared for was who answered the door.

"Oh..."

It was Jeremiah.

Kurt took a small step back. "Um..."

"Were you looking for Blaine?"

Kurt nodded, looking down at the ground. Well, _this _answered his question. "Yes, I was but, um... I can just call him later or something."

Jeremiah opened his mouth, but before he could respond Blaine's little sister wandered up and pulled on Jeremiah's pant leg. "Jerey? Are you gonna get us our ice cream?"

"Yes, honey, just one second."

She nodded, then saw Kurt. "Oh, hi, Kurtsie! How are you doin'?"

He sighed. "I'm okay."

She smiled. "That's good. Blaine likes it when you're doin' okay." Then she turned around and bounced back into the house. Jeremiah watched her go with a smile on his face.

"Sorry about that. So, did you say you were looking for Blaine? Because he's-"

Kurt shook his head. "I was, but... Just forget about it. I'll call him later or whatever."

Jeremiah frowned. "I'm sorry, but what was your name again?"

"Listen, I'm sorry to bother you and Blaine. I'll just be going now..."

An odd look was forming on Jeremiah's face; Kurt didn't really understand _why_ Blaine liked him, but he apparently did, and Kurt... Well, Kurt would move on; he never really thought that he'd ever get someone as amazing as _Blaine_ to actually like him like that. But Blaine deserved someone good, someone who wasn't going to _die_, and from what Blaine had told him, Jeremiah was a good guy.

"Will you take care of him?"

Jeremiah, who had opened his mouth again, blinked. "What?"

Kurt sighed and tried to smile. "He's clumsy, he wears _way_ too much hair gel, and rather clueless when it comes to certain things, and he's got a bad habit of jumping on things to make himself seem taller than he really is, but-"

He took a deep breath.

"But, he likes you, so just... He means _a lot _to me, and I like to see him happy and smiling; he does that a lot with you. So, will you, please?"

Jeremiah looked very confused, but he nodded slowly. Kurt let out a sigh of relief, then waved and began to head down the walkway.

"Wait!"

Kurt stopped halfway down the walkway. "Yeah?"

"What was your name again? So I can tell Blaine who dropped by."

He turned slightly. "It's Kurt." And then he began to walk again.

He must have been imagining it when Jeremiah let out a very loud, "shit," and he must have been imagining it when he heard Jeremiah call out his name and for him to "stop" and to "hold on a second".

He must have imagined it when he heard Jeremiah call, not to him, but probably into the house for Blaine to "get your ass outside _now"._

And he was most _definitely_ imagining it when he heard a voice (and it was most definitely Blaine's) yell out to him as his car was pulling away.

Mercedes glanced over at him from the side of her eye, not wanting to take her gaze off of the road. "I'm sorry, boo."

He sighed, then turned and curled up on the leather seat, trying to think about Sectionals tomorrow, and _not_ about Blaine and Jeremiah.

He was done.

[*]*[*]

Sectionals was a crowded place, Kurt noted as he and Carole attempted to find their seats.

"Sweetie, are we supposed to be sitting where the hippies are sitting, or where the English couple are?"

Kurt glanced back down at their tickets. "I think where the hippies are... I think."

Eventually, they found their seats (_next_ to where the hippies were sitting) in time for the first performance. Some group called the Hipsters or...something. Kurt wanted to stay and support both Blaine and the Warblers and New Directions, but by the time he was sitting down he was panting hard. Carole glanced over at him, a worried look on her face.

"Sweetie, are you okay?"

He glanced over at her and nodded sharply. "I'll be fine," he said, turning his attention back on stage just in time to see the Warblers begin their performance.

As always, Blaine was amazing, and Kurt was unable to tear his eyes away as they sang Hey Soul Sister. He was surprised, however, when Blaine suddenly spotted him and for the rest of the performance he didn't look away. By the end of the song, Kurt knew that he was blushing. But, Blaine couldn't be looking at _him,_ could he?

New Directions was next, but at that point, Kurt couldn't find the strength in him to care. He hadn't really talked to Blaine since he'd left his house after seeing Jeremiah there. What was there to say? _Not much,_ he'd told himself.

He was trying, trying to forget and get over Blaine because now that he'd thought of it, he hadn't stood a chance. At all. Blaine was wonderful, gorgeous, sexy, popular, and he was going to probably live a very long life.

Kurt... Well, he wasn't any of those.

He took in a deep breath to steady himself, and when he did, a rush of dizziness went through him. He reached out with his left hand and grabbed Carole's arm.

"Kurt? What is it?"

He shook his head. "...dizzy..." he muttered.

Her eyes widened. "How dizzy?"

He tipped his head back, hoping for the dizziness to go away.

It didn't.

"I think I... I think I need to go home," he said as softy as he could, but loud enough that Carole could hear him.

She nodded, and the two stood up and, as fast as Kurt was able to, left the auditorium. God, he just wanted to go _home_ and _sleep_ for the rest of his life. He stumbled slightly as they exited the building, and Carole's grip on him tightened. He covered his eyes from the sun with his hand and leaned closer to her as they made their way out to the car.

"I want you to sleep, okay, Kurt? And I'll wake you up when we get home, but then I want you to go back asleep as soon as we get there, okay?"

He was too tired to argue with her, so he nodded. He was unable to sleep the entire way, though, dozing in and out through the entire ride. He caught some parts of the conversation that Carole was having with his dad, the "doctor said that he'd have bad days," and the, "don't worry. I'll call you if anything else happens," and the, "no, he just said that he was dizzy and felt like he needed to go home,"s standing out.

When he finally fell asleep, it felt like he'd only slept for a minute when Carole woke him up. He walked into his house and immediately headed for his room and collapsed on to his bed, falling quickly back to sleep.

He woke up hours later, feeling much better but restless, like he needed to get out. His dad was in the kitchen with Carole, and he stopped their conversation to look over at his son. "You feeling better?"

Kurt nodded, "Yes," then went and grabbed his coat and to slip on his shoes.

Seconds later, Burt was by his side. "And where do you think you're going?"

Kurt sighed. "I just... I feel like I need to get out for a little while. I promise that I won't go far. Just to the pond or to see Mom."

His dad looked hesitant, but Kurt couldn't blame him.

"Please, Dad... Please."

Burt sighed. "Fine, but just keep me updated, okay?"

Kurt smiled, then hugged him. "I will." And he left.

It wasn't that dark out when he finally made it to the pond, having decided at last minute to not visit his mom. He walked over to the same bench and sat down on it, staring around at the scenery and listening to the wind. The pond area was empty, no one else bothering to be out on a cold day, but Kurt preferred it that way. He wanted to be alone, but only for a while. And so he sat, trying to enjoy the peace and quiet, probably for the last time.

"Hey..."

Blaine's voice was gentle and soft, and as Kurt looked up from his spot on the bench he could see the soft smile on Blaine's face.

"Hi," he said back, before turning his gaze back to the pond.

The ducks weren't there anymore, having left for the winter, but if he closed his eyes, he could hear the quacking and the splashing and the wings flapping. What he would give to go back to those days. Back to those days where he was healthier, where his heart was still working to the best that it could, and to where he wasn't pale, he didn't have such dark circles underneath his eyes, and where he wasn't helplessly in love with Blaine when it couldn't – wouldn't – work out.

He only let his eyes open when he felt Blaine sit down next to him. "Your dad told me you might be here. Well, actually, he said that you'd either be here or at your mom's grave. For some odd reason, I had a feeling you'd be here instead."

Kurt sighed and watched as his breath floated off in front of him. "It's calmer here to me for some reason. I don't know why."

"Your dad says you've been coming here a lot?"

Kurt smiled slightly. "I have some happy memories of this place. I feel as though the first time I was here, I was actually _happy_ for a while." He drew off. "So... How did Sectionals go?"

He could tell that Blaine shrugged when the fabric of his coat shifted. "We tied with New Directions."

"Congratulations."

"Thank you... Were you not feeling well? Is that why you left? I know that you were there, but when we were called back up on stage for the announcement, you weren't there any more."

"I... I got really dizzy, so I asked to go home. I've... I've been getting more and more dizzy spells lately."

Blaine placed a friendly hand on his thigh. "And...?"

Kurt bit his lip. "My doctor says it's because I'm getting weaker, and so the more I do, the more often I could pass out or have dizzy spells..."

It was only when he felt Blaine's hand on his face that he realized he was crying. He turned and allowed Blaine to pull him into a tight hug. "I'm _scared_. I'm so _scared_!"

Blaine's grip around him tightened immensely, and he whispered, "It's okay. Just let it out."

And Kurt did.

He cried, sobbed, and he _screamed _because it was all so _fucking_ unfair and why did it have to be _him_? He'd lost his mom when he'd been a kid, he had been born gay, been bullied, almost lost his dad to depression after the passing of his mother, and then he'd found out that his heart was dying. If he'd believed in a god, he would have been demanding answers, because it wasn't fair!

Throughout the entire time he cried, Blaine held him tightly, whispering to him, "It's okay to cry, baby. It's okay. We can make it through this, we _can_," and, "Everything will be okay, it will be. Be strong. _I love you_."

If he wasn't already so emotional, Kurt would have pulled away and just _stared_ at him because Blaine had just said that he _loved him_, but he didn't. Instead, he pulled back and leaned up and pressed a kiss to Blaine's lips.

It was desperate and needy and when Blaine responded back just as strong, Kurt could tell that Blaine was just as scared as he was. He ended the kiss almost as quickly as he had started it, whispered, "I love you too," and then leaned back in; they kissed each other until Kurt didn't have the air power to kiss anymore, so he let Blaine plant kisses anywhere and everywhere he could. His cheeks, his forehead, his eyes, his neck, all the while whispering I Love You's into Kurt's skin and that he would be there with him until the end.

And Kurt continued to cry, because now he had everything that he wanted, and he didn't even know how long he would be able to cherish it. And even though he was tired and having a hard time breathing, he let the words flow out, because now he could say them and know that they'd be returned. He still had questions for Blaine that needed to be answered, but for now, he didn't think about them.

"_I love you."_

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>Well, it happened! SEE? SMOOCHES. THEY KISSED. AND SAID THAT THEY LOVED EACH OTHER. I FEEL HAPPY.

I'M FEELING GLAD.

I'VE GOT SUNSHINE, IN A BAG.

...So, I lied. I couldn't wait. I just wanted to get this out. But I bet that you don't care that I lied. I thought that the little part that I added at the top would take longer to work out. I needed it in there to let you know what month the story is now in. I couldn't just say,

_Twas the time for Christmas, but Kurt wouldn't spend a dime,_

_and, lately, Blaine had been over all of the time._

_He brought over movies, and sometimes brought tea,_

_which made Kurt happy and he hugged him with glee. _

_Blaine gave him a jacket, that cost quite a lot,_

_which made Kurt gasp and be rooted to the spot._

_Then Christmas was over and out came the sun,_

_and Blaine brought Kurt out to the park for some fun._

_Time skip, time skip, dipitty doo._

_And I really should stop; I have more writing to do._

_..._uh, yeah. That's what would have happened if I didn't actually write it down, story like.

Well... I hope that you enjoyed!

Love,

UO_  
><em>


	8. Chapter 8

**_Disclaimer: _**I do not own Glee, nor do I own the song _Bird of Summer, _by _A Fine Frenzy._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter Eight<strong>_

* * *

><p>"So, you <em>don't <em>like Jeremiah?"

They were curled up together on Kurt's bed, Blaine's arms wrapped around Kurt's body, and Kurt's arms around Blaine's waist. Blaine planted a few soft kisses on Kurt's forehead and inhaled deeply, as if he was trying to memorize what Kurt smelled like.

"No, I do not like Jeremiah like that. I used to have a crush on him, last year, but that was before I met you, and when I was sort of desperate for a relationship."

Kurt frowned. "Why were you desperate for one?"

Blaine kisses his forehead again. "Do you remember when I told you about Sadie Hawkins?"

Kurt's frown deepened. "Yes, and I'm still very, _very_ mad at your other school. And the boys who beat you up."

Blaine smiled down at him. "Yes, I can see that you have your 'angry face' on right now. It's very cute."

"It's not supposed to be _cute, _no matter how many times you say that it is."

Blaine laughed. "Well, after I transferred to Dalton, I thought that if I got a boyfriend, someone who liked me that much, then I'd sort of be proving them wrong, no matter how stupid it seems."

Kurt shrugged. "It... makes sense...?"

Blaine kissed him, yet again, like he couldn't stop kissing him now that he could. "It did then, now it just seems really stupid. Anyway, I'd met him at the mall complex he works at when I'd applied for a summer job there. I thought he was cute, but he wasn't out yet, and it just wasn't going to work out. At all. Now we're just friends; I mean, I'm more like his mentor now that he's out, which is weird, seeing that he's older than me."

Kurt was still confused. "But... I totally thought that... I mean, when he was at your house that day you wanted to tell me something, I thought-"

"He was there to take Katie and James to the park so that we'd have the house to ourselves."

"Oh..."

_Oh._

"So... Well, now I just feel stupid."

Blaine turned a bit so that he was able to actually see Kurt more. "No, no, it's okay. You've had to deal with so much stress lately that it's completely understandable how you'd jump to that conclusion." He paused. "No matter how ridiculous it is," he joked, and before Kurt could respond, Blaine leaned down and planted a few quick kisses on his lips.

Kurt pouted. "No fair. You're cheating."

Blaine snickered. "Because kissing you is totally cheating."

"It is, because I'm enjoying it too much."

"I am as well."

Kurt leaned up and kissed him softly until he had to pull away to get air. "What was your reason for calling me over that day?"

Blaine's grip around him tightened. "I was going to confess to you. Jeremiah was also there to make sure that I had enough courage to go through it. He was the first person I told that I was in love with you."

And the 'oh' moments just kept on coming. "What about Wes and David?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure that they knew I was in love with you before I was actually in love with you, and they're the reason that Jeremiah contacted me and said, 'you're in love with someone, do tell', and then forced me to tell him all about you. In great detail."

"And so, that day at the park?"

"That food stand? They have some of the best ice cream, so I left to get you some, but ran into Jeremiah along the way. He was asking me about how things were going with you. I'm surprised that he didn't recognize that you were _you_."

Kurt smiled and snuggled into Blaine's chest. "I am feeling very relieved now that this has been resolved." He paused, then frowned. "I wish that I'd just asked you about it now. I mean, we've always been really honest with each other, so I don't know why I wasn't honest about all of my questions."

Blaine let his head lean on the top of Kurt's head. "I wasn't that honest with you either, so you don't have to apologize. I totally understand. I'm just glad that it all worked out in the end," he said breathlessly, squeezing Kurt quickly, then letting go as Kurt giggled.

"I'm glad too, _more_ than glad, actually."

Blaine kissed his forehead, _yet_ again, then trailed a few kisses down his head to his lips. He gave him five quick and repetitive kisses, the hummed happily. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to kiss you and hold you like this."

Kurt giggled. "Oh, I think I do," he said, breathing out heavily.

Blaine pulled back a bit. "You okay? I'm not making it hard for you to breathe, am I?"

Kurt shook his head, then frowned as a thought dawned on him. "Blaine?"

"Hm?"

"...Are-are you _sure_ that you want to...um...be in a relationship with me?"

Blaine stared at him. "Wh-what do you mean?"

Kurt shifted so that he was looking more at the ceiling than at Blaine. "I mean I'm dying-"

"Kurt, don't say that!"

He turned back to Blaine. "But, it's true. I mean, there's a chance that I could get a heart, but... I don't want to get my hopes up to high only for them to crash down when that beeper never goes off."

Blaine inhaled, then slid down slightly so that his head was level with Kurt's neck. He placed a few kisses there, then exhaled hard. "I know that, I do, but – forgive me for being selfish, but I want you to live forever. I want you to outlive me, and I most certainly want all of that to happen with us together, but – Kurt, don't give up just yet, please. I will be here for you, until that beeper goes off, or until you're being laid into the ground, okay?"

Kurt hummed. "I'm not giving up, Blaine. I was ready to, but-" He cut himself off, then ran a hand through Blaine's curls, loving the feeling of them. "But, I guess in that way, you saved me. I met you, and suddenly I had more of a reason to keep on living. I had a friend in you, first, and then I fell in love. Everything just started becoming better after that, so – Thank you. Thank you, for _everything._"

Blaine smiled, and pressed a couple of kisses on Kurt's neck. "I love you," he muttered, listening to Kurt breathe.

Kurt sighed. "We're going to have a problem with you kissing random parts of my body, huh?"

Blaine responded by sucking on the small scar Kurt had on his neck, and Kurt forgot that he was even complaining about the kisses, because _oh god._

[*]*[*]

"I don't understand why I'm here... _And_ why the hell are you carrying me, Finn? I _can _walk!"

He flailed wildly in Finn's arms, but then he got dizzy and stopped. He saw Finn smirking out of the corner of his eyes and he frowned. "You suck."

Finn laughed. "Dude, just relax for a second, we'll be there soon."

Kurt glared at him. "One, do _not_ call me dude. Two, I'm dizzy, and therefore I'm relaxed, and three: We're headed towards the choir room. I think I know what's going to happen. Just make sure that they don't yell 'surprise' to loud. I think that might be the thing that makes my heart finally stop beating."

Finn's grip on him tightened. "Don't make jokes like that, dude."

"I'll stop making jokes like that once you stop calling me dude."

"Deal, deal."

When they reached the choir room, Finn kicked the door with one foot, and it swung open a few moments later. "Try to act surprised," Finn whispered in his ear, and then they walked in.

It was pitch black inside, and Kurt unconsciously curled further into Finn. He let out a small, "um..." and then the lights clicked on.

"SURPRISE!"

Kurt let his eyes snap open to see the entirety of New Directions, and among them Blaine (his boyfriend, _god_ how he'd never get tired of thinking and saying that), Wes and David, the three of them in their uniforms, and quite a few more boys in uniforms as well. Kurt figured that they were the rest of the Warblers.

Finn placed him on the ground, and a second later he found himself being hugged by everyone in the room. "Hi, guys," he said weakly, not really knowing what to say.

Rachel was the closest one to him. She motioned for everyone to move away from him, then clasped her hands together. "Kurt Hummel," she said in a loud voice. "While our time together has been rather short, I just have to say, speaking for all of New Directions, that it has been an _honor_ to get to know you. You've kind of made Glee club a little brighter, and..." She shuffled her feet for a few seconds. "And you saved us from wearing, as everyone else puts it, 'horrible, _horrible, _awful, disgrace to fashion, and tacky outfits."

"You left out 'just plain stupid," Santana called from behind Puck.

Rachel turned around to glare at her. Then she turned back to Kurt. "And _just plain stupid_. So, thank you, Kurt."

She leaned forward and hugged him again. "You smell _amazing, _did I ever tell you that?" She whispered.

He laughed. "No, you haven't, but thank you."

She squeezed him, then stepped back. When she did, David, Wes, and a black haired boy Kurt didn't know where in her place. The black haired boy stepped forward and held out his hand. Kurt took it. "So, we've never met, but I'm Thad. I'm on the Senior council along with Wes and David for the Warblers. I just want to say thank you."

Kurt furrowed his eyebrows. "Why are you thanking me?"

Thad smiled and shrugged. "You inadvertently loosened the Warblers up by befriending Blaine, David and Wes. I think that that's what helped us tie with New Directions. So, again, thank you."

Kurt smiled at him. "Well, I guess if you're giving the credit to me then I'll have to take it."

Thad smirked. "I knew that I'd like you." He moved back, and David and Wes stepped forward before hugging him.

"We're here for you if you need us," David said.

"I don't really know you that well, Kurt, but Blaine is happier than he's ever been, so thank you."

Kurt sniffed. "Guys, you're giving me so much love. I don't know what to do with it. I'm overcome."

They laughed and moved away, and the next thing he knew Blaine had pulled him into a tight hug. "But really, Kurt, thank you."

Kurt hugged him back, his face pressed into the side of Blaine's neck. "Thank you as well," he said, pressing a small kiss to the place where Blaine's neck met his uniform shirt.

"I love you," he heard Blaine whisper.

"I love you too."

He felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder and reluctantly pulled away from the hug to see Puck smiling down at him. "Come and sit down on your thrown, your highness."

Kurt raised an eyebrow and a second later Puck sighed. "I don't know how you _do _that! I feel guilty for calling you that suddenly."

"It's a secret I'm taking to my grave, Noah."

Puck sighed again. "Well, go sit down on that middle seat, okay?"

Kurt did as he was told, and by the time he looked back up New Directions and the Warblers had lined themselves up.

"Kurt," Rachel said loudly. "We have worked together with our competition in order to orchestrate this song for you. We hope that you enjoy it." She stepped back, and the group began singing.

It was a capella, but Kurt immediately recognized it as one of the songs he'd told Blaine was his favorite.

_You came with the season, as the first swallow sang  
>A brown headed stranger, with a five-letter name<em>

_doopdodododododoo_

Blaine was singing lead, with New Directions and the Warblers singing the background music. He started out first looking at everyone around him, but then he locked gazes with Kurt

_We planted our kisses where the wild berries grow my feet sprouted wings and I flew all the way home_

_doopdodododododoo_

_My cheeks red like fire engines racing straight to the heat of your skin and I know our days are numbered, early bird of the summer, you'll fly south just as the fall begins_

_The leaves changed their colors and the schoolyards were filled_  
><em>my coat with the patches barely keeps out the chill<em>

_doopdododododoo  
><em>  
>Y<em>ou sent me a postcard from a town out of state, I wish it were warmer and I hope you're the same <em>

_doopdoodododododoo_

_The fields where we wandered were golden_  
><em>now only muddy my boots and I know I should recover, you're a bird of the summer, I was wrong to try and capture you.<em>

They began moving towards him, each step slow, as if afraid that he would be like the bird in the song and fly away from them.

_Flight_  
><em>Flight<em>

_I met someone walking at the park by the lake_

_He don't fly like we did but he don't fly away,_

_doopdoodododododoo_

_Gone is the pale hand of winter_  
><em>here is the first flush of may<em>

_and soon I will discover whether birds of the summer fly in circles or just fly away._

By the time the song had finished, they were gathered around his chair, all of them holding hands, Blaine and Finn holding each of Kurt's. Kurt sniffed, trying to hold back the tears that wanted to fall. Instead he turned to Blaine and said, "Did _you_ pick this song out?"

Blaine smiled back at him. "Yes," he said happily.

Kurt sighed. "I figured," he muttered, but smiled back up at Blaine. "Thank you. All of you."

They stayed like that for a while, until there was a knock on the door and Mr. Shue walked in, holding ten boxes of pizza. "Are we ready for the party to begin?"

Kurt looked up to Finn for a second, before turning his eyes back to the pizza. "Party?"

Finn looked proud. "Yeah, we wanted to have a party with you. You know, give you one, because you'd told me that you've never been to a party..."

Kurt stood up and hugged his soon-to-be brother. "Thank you, Finn, really."

Finn hugged him back uncomfortably. "Thank Blaine. He's the one who arranged the entire thing and got permission from your dad. He even called your doctor to make sure that doing this would be okay."

Kurt pulled away from the hug to look around Finn at Blaine, who was helping Mr. Shue set up the pizza and the paper plates.

"You have a really good boyfriend, boo." He heard Mercedes say.

Kurt didn't look away form Blaine, a huge smile growing on his face. "I do, don't I?"

"How are you feeling, boo?"

Kurt smiled, then accepted the piece of pizza that Quinn handed to him. "Tired, but in spirit? Really, really happy. I'm _incredibly_ happy."

Mercedes pulled him into a soft hug. "I'm glad that you are, baby." She nodded her head at Blaine. "He's quite the catch."

Blaine chose that moment to saunter up behind Kurt and wrap his arms around Kurt's shoulders. "Are you feeling tired at all?"

Kurt shrugged and took a bite of his pizza. "Not any more than I usually am."

Blaine let go of his body and walked away, grabbed a chair and dragged it over closer to Kurt. He sat down with his legs facing Kurt, then bent down with his elbows on his thighs and his head in his hands. "Go on, eat."

Kurt blinked. "I'm feeling very self conscious right now..."

Blaine laughed, but straightened up and crossed his legs. "How long do you want to stay? I can take you home whenever you feel like you need to."

Kurt sighed, then moved over so he was closer to Blaine and rested his head on his shoulders. "I can wait for a while," he said softly, watching as Puck took a slice of pizza from Finn's hand. Finn let out a loud "hey!" and began to chase Puck around the room. "I want to enjoy this."

He was able to last for three hours after the pizza had all been eaten and eight rounds of Apples to Apples had been played, along with six rounds of Pit. After round three of Pit, Kurt found himself unable to yell out anymore and let his head fall onto Blaine's shoulder and allowed his eyes to close. He was unsure of how long he slept, but he came back into consciousness to the feel of someone running their fingers through his hair.

"...he's really pale now..."

It was Brittany's voice that he heard first and he was going to open his eyes to let then know that he was awake when he heard Finn reply. "He is. I share a room with him now, and... He-he sleeps a lot, because he doesn't have a lot of energy."

Blaine was next to speak. "Was it hard to get him here?"

"Yeah, he slept in until three this afternoon, and he didn't have much energy today, but when I said I had to take him out of the house for a while he perked right up," Finn said.

Someone moved closer to him, and he felt a kiss being planted on his head. "I think that he should eat more carrots. I've heard that people who eat lots and lots of carrots turn orange, so maybe his skin will look like normal people skin after!"

"Oh, Britt," he heard Santana whisper. "It's not that simple, sweetie."

"How come?"

"His heart is starting to not work, so he's getting really tired and he's not sleeping well; that's why he has those dark circles underneath his eyes. Do you see them?"

"Yeah, I see them... But isn't there some way for his heart to start working again? I like his heart. It's sweet, just like Kurt is."

There was silence for a while, and then Kurt felt another kiss on his head. "That's what we're all hoping for, Britt," he heard Quinn say softly, and he could feel her fingers join the other ones running through his hair. "I know that he doesn't believe in a god or religion, but we're all praying for him. It's going to take some sort of miracle for him to get a heart. I looked it up and..." She drew off. "I'm being negative. I'm sorry. I believe," and she took a deep breath. "I believe that he'll survive this. I _do_."

"We all do, Quinn," Rachel breathed out.

There was more silence and then Puck let out a strangled sound. "It's not fair," he said fairly loud. Kurt felt the person who was holding him (Kurt was _positive_ that it was Blaine) tighten the grip he had on him. "He's a cool dude, but this shit is happening to him! It's not fair, dude. It's just _not_."

He felt hot breath on his neck, and then felt Blaine plant a kiss on the skin by his jaw. "I know it's not, I know..."

Kurt tuned them out and let himself fall back asleep. _They're right,_ he thought.

It wasn't.

_Three weeks, four days later_...

Dr. Walker didn't normally get hopeful or excited over someone's death. She preferred to remain professional when told that said dead person was a donor, because she'd learned that getting one's hopes up in the medical business would only lead to heartbreak and sadness. But this time... She couldn't help but hope.

"How old?"

"Twenty one," the nurse told her. "Motorcycle accident. He hit his head on a fire hydrant; died instantly, with no damage to any major organs. Blood type is A positive."

Dr. Walker froze. "The heart... Is the heart still available for a transplant?"

The nurse nodded, and Dr. Walker hurried over to her desk and pulled out a file. "This boy is the next on the list to get this heart. He needs notification that there is one."

The nurse took the file and nodded, then began headed off to let the boy know. Along the way, she glanced down and allowed a smile to appear on her face at the name that was on the top of the file.

_Hummel, K, E._

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>Hee hee hee. Cliff hangers. But it's a happy one! See? I can be nice! And I'm going to be SUPER NICE, and possibly update on Saturday. Whoo for fast updates!

...

I need to stay away from sugar. It's not good for me. It makes me hyper.

_BUT I LOVE SUGAR._

_..._Okay, I'll stop scaring you guys. Well, there's only two more chapters left! Let me know what you thought!

Love, UO


	9. Chapter 9

**_Disclaimer: _**I do not own Glee.**_  
><em>**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter nine<strong>_

* * *

><p>Burt Hummel was a proud and strong man. He rarely ever cried, and could count on one hand how many times he'd <em>really<em> cried in his life.

Four.

And those times were not including when he was a kid, because really? Who counted those anymore?

The first time was when his wife had said 'yes' when he'd asked her to marry him. He'd been ecstatic. And no one could really blame him; he'd been in love with her for a few years before he got the courage to ask her out.

The second time was when Kurt had been born. With his wife sleeping like the dead, Burt had reached into the small crib-like bed that Kurt had been placed in and taken Kurt into his arms. He'd leaned down and said, "Hey there, little guy. I'm your dad."

Kurt had opened his eyes briefly, smiled a tiny smile, then fell back asleep.

Burt just couldn't hold the tears back any more. He was a _father_, and he'd be damned if he didn't do a good job of raising his kid.

The third time was at Liz's funeral. Kurt had grabbed his hand and had asked, "Is there a way to wake Mommy up, Daddy? I don't want her to go in the ground. She's my Mommy, and she's the best. Can't they just make her better?"

Burt turned and pulled Kurt into a tight hug, and he found himself crying as he explained why they were putting her in the ground, and why she wasn't coming back.

Number four was when he told that his kid was going to die.

He'd already lost Liz, and now he was going to lose his son? It just wasn't fair. But he'd told himself that he had to be strong for Kurt, that he had to be there, because this was going to be harder for Kurt than it was going to be for him.

But when he'd walked into the exam room where Kurt was sitting, Kurt had looked up at him with red and wide eyes and tear tracks on his cheeks. "Dad," he'd whispered. "I don't want to die... I don't want to leave you."

And Burt broke.

Other than those four times, Burt had never really had a good hard cry. He thought that he had a while before his next hard cry, but as Kurt walked into the kitchen, painfully slow, Burt just_ knew_ that something was wrong.

And then Kurt looked up at him and Burt knew: the time was coming.

Kurt's cheeks were more hollow than they had been the previous week, the dark circles were darker, and from where he was standing Burt could see that Kurt's limbs were shaking. Kurt went back to staring at the ground, as if it was too hard to keep his head up. "I'm so _tired_, Dad..." He whispered. "I've been sleeping so much, but I'm still so _tired."_

Burt walked forward and pulled his son into a gentle hug and he could feel the tears beginning to fall. He had thought that this day wouldn't come for a while. Kurt had been doing great according to his doctor. But it seemed like his heart just couldn't take it any more. After he picked up an unwilling Kurt and put him back to bed, Burt went to his room and cried, because he wasn't ready for his son to leave.

No father is ever ready to lose their child.

Twenty minutes later he got up and made all of the calls, to Kurt's friends, his boyfriend, and to his family. Then, there wasn't much else to do but wait. He knew that later Kurt could possibly feel better, but he knew not to get his hopes up.

So, it surprised him when Blaine called him on one of Kurt's good days and asked if he could take Kurt out. It was going to rain later on in the day, so Burt really didn't want Kurt out in the rain, even if he was feeling stronger. But Blaine persisted, mentioning something about Kurt's bucket list and about Kurt wanting to have a dance in the rain. He said that he'd take really good care of him, and make sure that he got Kurt back if he showed any signs of weakening. Burt could hear the love in Blaine's voice as he talked, and who was he to keep Blaine away from his son?

Burt said yes.

[*]*[*]

It was raining.

He didn't know why Blaine had been so adamant that they go to their pond, but he'd agreed. Blaine had shown up at the house at eight, and Kurt had been surprise when his dad told him to go with Blaine, then told Blaine to have him back at the scheduled time. Blaine had already been holding Kurt's hand in one arm, and the look on his face was one that Kurt couldn't ignore.

He'd nodded, then said simply. "Let me get my shoes on..."

Blaine had an umbrella waiting for them on the porch, and as soon as the door had closed behind them, he'd flipped it right side up and opened it, hugging Kurt close to him as they walked to the car. He'd refused to answer Kurt's questions as to what they were doing, and eventually Kurt stopped asking. They'd parked in the empty parking lot, and Blaine had told Kurt to stay in his seat, then rushed out of the car, opened the umbrella, and the proceeded to open Kurt's door for him.

"You're being a real gentleman," Kurt had tried to joke, but it was ruined when Blaine looked at him with wide eyes and then leaned forward to kiss him.

As much as Kurt had wanted it to be longer, Blaine pulled away as quickly as he could, then began to drag Kurt towards the pond.

"Blaine," he'd said. "What are you doing?"

Once they'd reached the pond, Blaine had let go of him and stepped out from underneath the umbrella. Kurt could only stare at him. "Blaine, get back under here! You're going to get soaked!"

Blaine shook his head, letting the rain pour over him. Then, he held out a hand. "Dance with me, Kurt."

Kurt stared at him. "What?"

"Come dance with me." He sounded like he was trying to resist pleading, and Kurt didn't know what to do.

"...why?"

Blaine took a step towards him, hand still stretched out. "Because, you always said that something you wanted to do in your life was dancing in the rain with someone who loved you." His eyes were wide, and his tone was taking on more of a pleading one. "It's raining," he said, looking up at the sky for a second before turning his gaze back to Kurt. "_I _love you, and I want to dance with you. Please, Kurt. _Please_."

Kurt looked down at the ground to his left, biting his lip and tightening his grip on the umbrella handle. He didn't know why he was hesitating, but...

He glanced back up at Blaine, who was still holding his hand out and who was breathing heavily; he looked so _sad _and helpless and in love, and that was what caused Kurt to lower the umbrella to the ground and take Blaine's hand. Blaine's grip on his was tight, and he pulled Kurt towards him and tucked his head against Kurt's neck.

Kurt inhaled and closed his eyes as Blaine rocked them slowly, feeling the rain fall all over him. He sighed, then let his head fall against Blaine's and he smiled. It was only a second later that he realized that Blaine was singing. Well, he wasn't _singing_, but more like saying the words to the beat of the song in his head.

"Before you met me, I was all right, but things were kind of heavy. You brought me to life..."

Blaine cut off, and Kurt could hear a sob escape. "Blaine?"

"Now, every February, you'll be my Valentine..."

"Blaine...? Blaine, are you okay?"

Blaine pulled his head back and looked him in the eye. Kurt could make out the tears on his face and so he leaned in and planted a kiss on Blaine's lips. It was soft, not passionate at all; just a small kiss to confirm that, yes, he was there, and _yes_ he was still alive. Blaine's grip around his waist tightened until he decided to pull away.

Kurt hummed a little, but smiled all the while. "Why did you do this for me, Blaine?"

Blaine stared at him, then leaned in and planted a needy kiss on his lips. As much as Kurt wanted it to go on, he wanted to know why Blaine had done this for him, so he pulled away and eyed his boyfriend intensely.

"Blaine, please tell me."

Blaine sighed sadly. "You told me one of your dreams was to dance in the rain with someone who loved you... You have a list of things that you wanted to do in your life, and so help me god if I couldn't make at least a few of them come true."

Dammit, now Blaine was going to make Kurt himself cry. "But, you know you can't make all of them come true. I mean, I want to do so many things."

"But if there was any that I could make happen, I wanted do my best to make them come true, Kurt. I love you." Blaine leaned forward and placed a kiss on his lips. "I love you, I love you, _I love you_."

Each word was accented with a kiss to his lips, and Kurt didn't want the moment to end. He wanted to kiss Blaine forever underneath the rain. And when Blaine kissed him again, then ran his tongue over Kurt's bottom lip, he groaned and shivered. He kissed back as passionate as Blaine was, but eventually pulled away and muttered. "Blaine, I'm tired." He hated to say it, but it was true, and if they stayed in the rain they would both get sick.

Blaine nodded against his head. "Okay, okay... I'm going to spend the night tonight, okay?"

Kurt nodded at him and together, hand in hand, they headed back to the car.

The ride back was completely quiet, neither of them talking, just holding hands and letting the warmth from the other fill them to the brim. Blaine's grip eventually got too tight, though, and Kurt had to let go. Blaine transferred his hand to Kurt's thigh then, and Kurt placed his on top of Blaine's, letting the small caresses of his hand soothe him.

When Blaine dropped him off, it took all of Kurt's willpower to get out of the car. He didn't want to leave. He wanted to stay in the car with Blaine forever. "Blaine?"

Blaine turned and pulled Kurt into a tight hug. "I love you," he said firmly. "I _love_ you."

Kurt hugged him back as tight as he could. "I love you, too. I love you so much."

Blaine eventually let him go, but said with a small smile, "I got permission from your dad to spend the night with you for as long as you want."

Kurt allowed a smile to appear on his face. "Really?"

"Yeah."

Kurt leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on Blaine's lips. "I'd love that."

Blaine returned the kiss with a smile. "Me too.

[*]*[*]

Somehow, Blaine spending the night all of the time reached the rest of Kurt's friends, and they started appearing at Burt's doorstep at around five each night, donning pajamas, pillows and sleeping bags. A few came with some of Kurt's favorite movies, and later in the night, Burt would walk into their living room and see all of them sleeping, every one of them as close to Kurt as they could be.

This went on for two weeks, Kurt being able to sleep with them. But one night, he was barely able to stay awake for the opening credits of the first movie. Burt believed that was when it all hit them for the first time since he'd called to let them know of Kurt's current state of health.

Kurt's heart was almost done.

It was scary, thinking about it. Watching someone slip away was terrifying, especially if everyone around them was helpless to do anything about it. It kept getting harder and harder for Kurt to keep his head up, his eyes open, and he kept growing silent. And when Blaine leaned over to press a soft kiss to Kurt's temple, he didn't have the energy to smile back at him.

Kurt passed out against Blaine ten minutes later, and when Burt had reached down to pick him up, Puck said that he'd be the one to do it and smoothly lifted Kurt off of Blaine. Looking down at him, Puck whispered. "I kind of just wanted to be able to pick him up once, and to have it be a good thing. I know that it won't make up for all of the times I picked him up and tossed him into the dumpster, but..." He drew off, then left the room smoothly, trying to to bump Kurt in anyway. Eventually, Puck came back down to an incredibly silent living room and returned to his original spot.

Two hours later, everyone was crowded in the Hummel living room, as close to each other as they could stand. Carole was sitting next to Burt, a comforting hand on his back and her other hand gripping her skirt in a death grip. Mercedes was sitting next to Blaine, their shoulders touching; Blaine had his head in his hands and Mercedes' fingers were constantly tapping an unsteady rhythm on her thighs. Finn and Rachel were holding hands, and she was whispering to him, saying things like, "it's okay," and, "he'll make it", although she seemed to be saying them out loud to try to convince herself more than Finn.

Santana had a lap full of Brittany, who was clutching the stuffed dolphin she'd given Kurt for his Almost-Birthday to her chest. Mike and Tina were huddled together on the ground next to Artie's wheelchair, while Sam and Quinn held hands by the window. Puck and Lauren had taken their spots by the door. Puck was pacing. "God, I _hate _this," he said, trying to resist slamming his fist against the wall.

Rachel looked up from hers' and Finn's clasped hands. "We all do, Noah, but... I mean, what can any of us do?"

"All we can do is be here for him," Blaine whispered.

Burt lifted his head up from where they had been resting on his fists. "The doctors say that they aren't sure how much longer his heart is going to last, so... Kids," he said, sounding exhausted. "Why don't you just go home? You'll just lose sleep sitting here."

"No," Tina said sternly. "What if something happens? I know that I for one don't want to be in bed sleeping when..." She cut off, then turned and buried her head in Mike's chest.

The room fell silent again.

They let the silence drift over them, each of them going over some of the memories they'd had and shared about Kurt, thinking that maybe one of the happier ones would be able to make them smile, even for just a second, and for a while only the sound of their breathing was heard.

Five minutes later, a creaking sound joined in with the breathing, along with a beeping sound.

"Dad?"

Everyone looked up to see an exhausted Kurt standing in the entrance to the living room. The dim lighting of the room accented the dark circles underneath his eyes, as well as the paleness of his skin, but his eyes were glowing and he looked scared, shocked and happy all at the same time.

Burt stood up quickly. "What is it, kiddo?"

Kurt held out his hand slightly; in his palm he was holding his pager.

It was beeping.

"W-what does that mean?" Artie asked, pointing to the pager.

Blaine was smiling, as well as Carole and Finn. Burt had grabbed his son and had pulled him into a tight embrace. Turning to the rest of the group, Carole said, "It means that he has a donor. The hospital has a heart for him."

[*]*[*]

The trip to the hospital seemed to pass by in a blur. Kurt had been admitted and taken to the prep room faster than anyone could count. They were told to wait in the waiting room, and left alone. None of them could say if this wait was harder, or longer, than the wait for the damn pager to go off.

The surgery was risky, because Kurt was in such poor health. There was a high chance, Dr. Walker had said, that he wouldn't make it out of the surgery. "There might be a chance that his body will reject the heart. I know that right now all you want to hear is good news, but I have to be real with you as well, no matter how much I want this for him as well," she'd said stiffly, immediately going into doctor-mode. "The donor heart could also fail over time as well, but don't worry. If it fails, he will be able to get a retransplant if there is a heart available for him. He has been taking the immune medicine described, yes?"

Burt had nodded, gripping Carole's hand tightly.

"Then you know of some of the risks involved in that, like leaving the kidney open to damage, which, over the years, could result in it failing. Also, and I will tell you all of this again if he comes out of surgery safely, that osteoporosis, the weakening of one's bones, can also appear."

She'd stopped, but then a smile appeared on her face and she relaxed. "Professionally, I needed to tell you that, but personally? I think that he'll make it. He's strong, so I think that he'll come out of it just fine."

Her words echoed through all of them for a while even after she'd left to watch the surgery.

"He's going to make it," Finn said, being the first one to break the silence that was being held over the group. "I know it. We _all_ know it," he said, gesturing to everyone around him. "He's strong."

Puck let out a strangled laugh. "Don't we all. I remember, one time I was tossing him in the dumpster, he didn't go down without giving my face a good kick. My nose almost broke. Good times..." He blinked, then threw his hands up in a gesture of peace. "I mean, I don't throw him in any more; I think he's totally cool and shit, and I would never toss him into a dumpster now..."

Quinn let out a small laugh. "He... He kind of brightened the choir room a bit with his sarcasm and his constant attacks on Rachel's clothing."

Rachel let out a soft, "hey," but other than that she didn't let the small smile vanish from her face. "He _did_ give me rather good fashion advice." She let her head fall into her hands. "I really do like him, even though we go at each other all of the time."

Mercedes reached over and placed a hand on her back. "You can cry if you want... I'll need a buddy to cry with eventually."

Rachel nodded, then turned into Mercedes' offered arms and began to cry.

Santana clenched her hands into fists and bit her lip. "Why is this so fucking hard? I don't even _like_ him that much-"

"You like him," Brittany said softly. "You told me that last week when we were making out."

Everyone turned to stare at Santana, who rolled her eyes. "Okay, _fine. _So I have a soft spot for Kurt, what_ever_. I've just never actually cared about someone else other than me. And sometimes Britt."

Brittany stood up and walked over to Santana, then crawled into her lap. "I care about you too, Santana. And I know that Kurt would be happy knowing that you cared about him, because he loves you too." She began to run her fingers through Santana's hair. "I think that's why his heart is not doing so well."

"What do you mean, Britt?" Tina asked, her arms wrapped around her waist.

Brittany shrugged. "I think that his heart was too small to carry all of the love that Kurt has for everyone. He just loves so much that his heart couldn't take it any more."

Santana tightened her grip on Brittany, and finally allowed her tears to fall. "Yeah, Britt. I think so too," she said softly.

Brittany looked up from Santana's hair and motioned for Blaine to come to her. He stood, then slowly walked over to their group and allowed himself to be pulled into a hug. One by one, each of Kurt's friends joined, until they were in a small circle, each hugging each other and trying to find some sort of comfort.

Burt watched all of Kurt's friends, he watched as each of them cried, and he tried to resist the urge to join them as well. Eventually he clapped his hands together to get their attention. "Guys, I know... I know that this will sound weird to you but, I really don't think that Kurt would want you to be crying over him."

Finn pulled himself away from the group hug and stared at his soon-to-be step-father. "What do you mean?"

Burt shrugged. "I talked to him, before he went in. He... he told me that if anything were to happen, he didn't want anyone of us to cry for him. He doesn't want us to remember the sad parts of his life. He wants us to remember the happy memories."

Blaine, who had also left the group hug, nodded. "That sounds like our Kurt. Even when he's in pain and there's a risk he won't make it out, he's still thinking about us."

"Kurt's like that," Artie muttered. "He's a good guy."

"He's a great guy," Blaine mumbled.

Sam reached forward and placed a hand on Blaine's shoulder. "He's amazing. I just wish that I'd gotten to know him better sooner."

"I'm just glad that I got to know him," Mercedes said firmly. "He made my life better."

Eventually, they found it hard to talk, so they fell back on memories once again, each of them holding hands with the person they were closest to. All of them were lost in their own thoughts, so none of them noticed when the surgeon walked into the waiting room. He cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Mr. Hummel?"

Blaine glanced up, and as the surgeon gave them the news everything seemed to fade away. HE was vaguely aware of Mercedes and Tina grabbing each other tightly, as though their lives depended on it. Finn was holding a crying Rachel in a death grip, his mouth open. But they were all Blaine was able to see. He was unable to see Artie's reaction, or Puck's, Quinn's, Sam's. He didn't care that Quinn was sobbing uncontrollably, and that Lauren was attempting to stop Puck from tossing something, her own tears falling down her face. All he could think about was Kurt. His Kurt, who was the most beautiful thing in the world. In his head he was able to hear Kurt's last words to him before he went into surgery.

"_I love you, so much. Don't forget that, okay?"_

He repeated that over and over again in his head as he fell to the ground, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"_I love you, too. And I'll never forget. _Ever_._"

* * *

><p><strong><em>Author's notes<em>_: _**Um... thoughts?


	10. Chapter 10

**_Disclaimer: _**I do not own Glee.**_  
><em>**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter ten<strong>_

* * *

><p>The minister's voice was loud and powerful, easily drawing attention to all of the words that were coming out of his mouth. He was standing tall and straight, and even though his voice was firm, Blaine could see the sadness in his eyes. The sadness was reflected through everyone in the area, standing around the grave. Everyone was in black, and those who were wearing hats had black veils, their faces looking directly at the ground.<p>

The coffin was small, the size of it just right for a teenager. The wood was polished nicely, and the color of it was lighter. On top of the coffin, in the middle, a large bouquet of flowers sat, the petals blowing lightly in the breeze. As the minister finished his speech, each person in attendance walked forward and placed a rose on the coffin.

_Kurt never liked red roses, _Blaine thought absentmindedly, shifting his weight to his left foot and biting his lip. _He always thought that they were way too cliché. I understood that, though. I did..._

"Wow, that's a rather big gathering, don'tcha think?"

Blaine turned to see Finn behind him, holding four grocery bags of food in his hands. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you're hungry." He said bluntly. "What did you do? Buy out the gas station of their chip and cookie supply?"

Finn glanced down at his bags of food. "Everything just looked good, dude. And plus, we're in Hawaii! I have to enjoy all of the native food while I can!"

Blaine reached down and opened one of the bags, looking in at the contents. He smirked. "I highly doubt that Pringles are only found in Hawaii, Finn."

Finn shrugged. "Whatever, dude. Let's just head back to the beach before my family decides to go looking for us in case we died or something."

Blaine let out a laugh, then began walking towards the beach again. "Thanks again for letting me come along with you guys."

"Of course! You're like family! Burt wouldn't have had it any other way. He likes you too much. And," he said, taking out the Pringles can and opening it. "Your family is letting us use your condo, and that thing is huge! I get to have my own room! Everyone gets their own room!"

Blaine sighed happily. "I know. I don't think that I'd be able to survive listening to you snore all night."

"It's not _that_ bad," Finn said, a frown appearing on his face."

"Finn, it's _awful_ listening to you snore. I just... I had nightmares when I first heard it. I thought some sort of monster was coming to get me."

Finn snorted. "I doubt it."

"Don't. And then I woke up and saw you across the room from me. It was just horrible, just horrible."

Finn sighed. "Oh well, but that's just one thing. I'll have you know, sharing a room with me _rocks_."

"When you're awake and you have some fun games to play, then yeah. But sleeping wise? Not so much."

"Well now you're just making me feel bad."

Blaine shrugged. "Just telling the truth. Something Kurt always told me to do."

Finn grew silent. "Yeah..."

Eventually the beach was in sight again, and Finn nudged Blaine with his shoulder. "Race you back?"

Blaine inhaled, let out a "meh" sound, then took off running without giving Finn an answer.

"Cheater!" Finn called out, taking off after him.

Blaine peaked over his shoulders, then sped up, cursing Finn's incredibly long legs and the sand. Running over sand was _hard_. Quicker than he had thought, Finn was close behind him. Grinning harder, Blaine shot to the left and jumped over a girl tanning on her towel. He ignored her shout of "hey!" and sprinted over to where Burt and Carole were sitting in their beach chairs.

"We're back," he called out, skidding to a stop in front of Burt's chair. Finn appeared by his side not even a second later. Placing the bag he'd been carrying on the ground, Blaine said, "Sorry we took so long. Finn decided to buy the entire store."

Burt leaned forward in his chair in order to see the full bags that Finn was holding. "Wow, Finn. Plan on eating that all by yourself?"

Finn shrugged. "Not really. I got them for everyone. I know that a _certain_ someone will be hungry when he wakes up so I brought extra. God he eats a lot. "

Carole reached over Burt and took one of the bags from Finn. "Honey, he's not going to eat any of this stuff! You have to be considerate about him!"

Finn threw up his hands, which considering the fact that he had three other bags hanging off his arms, was a rather funny sight. "Well, I was hungry too! And why should I be considerate and think about what he wants to eat? "

Carole giggled. "I know, sweetie. I was just giving you a hard time." But then she grew stern. "Because, it's nice. I know that you haven't been getting along, but you should just do it, okay?"

"Fine," Finn grumbled out.

Burt turned in his seat and reached behind him to the cooler they'd brought with them. He opened it and pulled out a few packed sandwiches. "Blaine," he said while searching. "Why don't you go wake him up?"

Blaine nodded and stepped around Carole and Burt and headed towards the rather large beach umbrella placed in the ground. There was a boy laying on his stomach, his legs pulled slightly up to his chest and his arms placed by his head. Smiling, Blaine got down on his hands and knees and crawled over until he was slightly above the sleeping boy.

"Babe," he said softly, leaning down and placing a few kisses along the bare back. "We're going to have lunch soon. Time to get up."

A hand flew up and tried to swat at his head. "Go'way. Sleepy."

Blaine let out a small chuckle. "I know, I know. I kept you up rather late last night, didn't I?"

There was another groan, but then the boy turned around and attempted to swat at him again. "That movie was _long_ and rather depressing, Blaine. You should have known better," he said sternly, but he was smiling and Blaine couldn't help but lean down and kiss him.

His hand reached up and he let it run up the smooth chest before it stopped at its destination and began to rub the scar placed there, the one reminder that both of them had about that hard time of their life. And the one main reminder about what saved it.

Pulling away from the kiss Kurt smirked up at him. "I like you waking me up this way. Do it more often, 'kay?"

Blaine saluted him. "Yes, sir!"

Sighing, Kurt sat up and yawned. "How long have I been asleep?" he asked as he stood up on wobbly legs.

Blaine stood up with him. "Not that long, thirty minutes maybe?"

Kurt let out a groan. "I hope that the sun didn't get me," he said, attempting to look over his entire body. "I don't want to burn while on this trip. That would suck."

Blaine placed a hand on the small of his back as they walked over to Kurt's family. "I agree, it would, although I wouldn't mind rubbing aloe vera all over your skin," he said huskily.

Kurt blushed. "You're making me feel all giddy. And flustered."

Blaine smirked. "I like you when you're giddy and flustered."

"I thought that you liked me all of the time?"

"Well, that too."

"Oh, wait one second," Kurt said, doubling back to his towel. He picked up his white shirt, slipped it on, then jogged back to Blaine. "I don't remember packing anything for lunch today."

"Don't worry," Blaine said as they continued their walk. "I packed something for you this morning. I was the reason why you were so tired this morning, so I figured it was the _least _that I could do."

"I love you," Kurt said suddenly.

"I love you, too."

Kurt smiled, then laced their hands together and pecked his cheek.

"Is this all because I made you just a sandwich? I should make them more often if it gets me this response," he said as they joined everyone on the picnic blanket.

"Hey sleepy head," Carole said cheerfully, handing Kurt a plate with his sandwich and a large pile of chips.

"Hi," Kurt said, taking the plate in both hands. He stared down at the plate. "I don't know why I've been so hungry lately. It's odd."

"You're pregnant," Finn joked through a mouthful sandwich.

Everyone froze. Carole was staring at Finn as though she couldn't quite believe what she'd just said. Kurt had his sandwich halfway from the plate to his mouth, and Blaine had dropped the chip that he was holding. Burt, however, was staring at both Kurt and Blaine, a frown forming over the lower half of his face.

"I swear, if you two have been having sex and that's why you've been so hungry lately-"

Blaine immediately held up his hands in defense. "NO! No, Kurt and I haven't had sex, or-or done any kind of sexual thing except kissing and-"

"Are you saying that my son doesn't do it for you?"

Kurt covered his rapidly burning face with his hands. "Oh my god..."

Carole placed a hand on Burt's shoulder. "Honey, honey don't you think that... we shouldn't be talking about those kinds of things here? While we're on vacation? Or while we're in _public_?" She said in an unnaturally high voice, looking around at her at the other people on the beach.

They all fell silent, Finn shoving food into his mouth rapidly, Kurt and Blaine holding hands uncomfortably, and Carole trying to stop a fuming Burt. Eventually, Burt let out breath. "I'm sorry. Sex would just explain why you've been so hungry lately."

"Or," Blaine said slowly. "He's just been doing a lot of things that he hasn't been able to do for a while, like going running with me in the mornings and going out a lot." He was staring at Burt, as though attempting to find out what was running through his head and whether or not he should hide.

Carole nodded, her hand running up and down Burt's back. "Okay, well... What have you boys planned for the day?"

Blaine shrugged. "I was planning on taking Kurt snorkeling. I sighed up Kurt and myself for the three hour trip out to the reefs; Finn said he didn't want to go, and you guys said you were going to do some other things before tonight so... The boat leaves..." Blaine glanced down at his watch. "Oh... We've gotta go," he said, standing then taking Kurt's hand and pulling him up. "We have to be there in thirty minutes!"

Kurt let go of his hand and jogged over to his umbrella to grab his towel and bag. While he was gone, Blaine slipped his shoes back on and picked up his own bag, then stuffed his towel in it. "We'll meet up with you guys at the luau, okay? Then we're coming back here to watch the fireworks and for some night swimming, right?"

Burt nodded, reaching into the cooler for another sandwich. "We'll see you at the luau at six sharp."

"Have fun, boys," Carole said, laying down on to her back and letting the sun hit her legs.

Blaine smiled, then turned and held his hand out for Kurt to take. "We plan on it," his boyfriend said happily. They left the rest of the group and began to head up to the parking lot. "Do you have the map to get there?"

Blaine nodded. "I put it in the car this morning."

Kurt let out a heavy, but happy, sigh. "I can't believe Finn didn't want to come with us! I can't stop thinking about what we could see down there."

They'd reached the car, and Blaine let go of Kurt's hand and pulled the passenger door open for him. "Who knows? The last time I went snorkeling I saw quite a few turtles."

Kurt wiggled slightly in his seat while he waited for Blaine to get in. "I'm so excited!" He exclaimed. "Thank you for doing this for me," he stated, reaching over and taking Blaine's hand.

Blaine pulled it up to his lips and pressed a kiss to the back. "Of course." He let go of Kurt's hand and put the key into the ignition. "Let's get going."

_Vacation in Hawaii_.

Bucket list number thirteen.

That one Blaine could do easily.

With Kurt's gaze focused on the scenery outside Blaine was allowed to think and remember in silence. Three months ago, he didn't have much hope that he'd be able to do this for Kurt. He still remembered sitting in that waiting room, surrounded by Kurt's friends and family, but still feeling all alone. He remembered the complete fear that rose up in him when he saw the surgeon walking out to talk to them.

"_Mr. Hummel?"_

Burt had walked over to meet him, and while Blaine couldn't hear everything the doctor said, he was able to hear the final verdict.

"_His body accepted the transplant and he's being moved to a separate room for recovery. We're going to move him to a clean room, so you'll have wear gowns and gloves to see him, just because he's prone to infection and viruses, but other then that, you have nothing to worry about. Congratulations."_

Everyone around him were either sobbing or grasping each other in happiness. He had fallen to the ground, unable to stand anymore. Kurt, his Kurt, he was going to _live_.

Taking a deep breath Blaine glanced back over at Kurt, who was still staring out the window and allowed a relieved smile at the sight.

There had been many nights where he'd woken up and had to immediately grab his phone so that he could look through the recent texts from Kurt, as well as the recent pictures of them, so that he could reassure himself that yes, Kurt had gotten a heart transplant, and _yes_, he was going to_ live_.

"Are we almost there?" Kurt asked suddenly, turning from the window slightly.

Blaine nodded, and turned into the nearest parking lot. "I'm going to park here, though. It's not a far walk so we'll make it there in time."

"Good, I'm feeling all giddy again."

They arrived at the area where the boat was located twenty minutes earlier than planned, so the captain told them to stay near the water, because they'd be pulling the boat up as close as they could in a few minutes.

Swinging his arms slightly, Kurt began to bounce on the heels of his feet. "I still feel giddy. I've never gone out far into the ocean, Blaine."

_Swim out far in the ocean. So far that everything around me just vanishes_.

Bucket list number twenty seven.

Kurt blinked, then cocked his head to the side. "I'd never been in the ocean before this trip, actually."

Blaine let out a laugh. "I think that you'll like it, even though you hate being out in the sun too long. I swear we bought the highest sun block lotion in existence."

Kurt pushed his lower lip out. "I burn easily. And then I'm not fun. I'm pretty sure that you want to be around a fun me, right?"

Blaine turned to stare directly at him. "I just want to be around you."

He could feel the blush rising up his neck, so he ducked his head slightly and said, "You've been a complete romantic this entire trip. What's up?"

Blaine shrugged and put his hands into the pockets of his swim trunks. "I'm just in love with you, is all."

Kurt blushed harder, then opened his mouth to reply. "I-"

"Okay guys," the captain suddenly shouted. They both looked around to see that more people had arrived and that the boat was coming closer to the shore. "We can't come up to the edge, so you're going to have to wade over to the boat, then we'll help you get up. Form a line!"

Blaine took a spot behind Kurt and the two of them stepped into the water. "Ooh," Kurt said, inhaling. "It's really _cold_."

Blaine snickered, then reached forward and placed his hands on Kurt's shoulders. "That's the ocean, babe. I though that you got in this morning? I _clearly _remember dunking you, and then we both tried to duck dive under the few big waves that we saw."

He couldn't see Kurt's face, but he could practically hear the frown when he spoke. "But that was this morning. I haven't been in the water since then."

They were the first two to reach the boat, and Blaine climbed on first, then reached out his hand. Kurt took it and allowed Blaine to pull him up. Blaine kept Kurt's hand in his as he led them over to bench by the side of the boat and sat down. Kurt joined him with a happy exhale. He promptly turned around and faced outside the boat and stared at the ocean.

"Do you know where we're going?"

Blaine bit the edge of his lip and thought, trying to remember if the information he'd read had mentioned a destination. "No, I don't. But I bet it'll be great; they'll probably take us to where there are cool coral reefs. Those are incredibly pretty."

Kurt hummed happily. "I'm looking forward to it."

Ten minutes later, everyone was on board, and the captain announced their leaving. The fast the boat went, the more Kurt's hair and shirt flapped wildly, and Blaine found himself staring first at Kurt's hair, then at his shirt; if he watched hard enough, he was able to see the scar left from Kurt's transplant.

Kurt, at first, had been incredibly self conscious about it, and wore thick shirts and undershirts so that no one would see it. But one day, Blaine had come over to see Kurt wearing a light blue shirt, the scar just barely showing at the top. Kurt had just smiled at him when he'd asked about it and said, "I'm actually kind of proud and thankful of it now. It's my story, so I'm going to show it off, like the diva I am."

Blaine had never been more proud.

About fifteen minutes into the trip, Blaine stood up and placed a hand on Kurt, partly just to touch him, but also to keep his balance. "They're serving some snacks and drinks. Do you want anything?"

Kurt shifted in his seat slightly. "I'll have some water, and if they have any apples or pineapples that get me some, please."

Blaine nodded and moved over to the table in the lower part of the boat. He grabbed two small plates and put a few apple slices on both of them, then grabbed some cheese and crackers. Then he moved on to the drinks, but found it rather hard to balance both drinks. On tipped over slightly, and he tried to grab it but found someone else's hand gripping the cup. "Thanks," he said, taking the cup again in a much more secure hold.

"That for your friend over there?" The man asked.

Blaine nodded. "Yeah, it is," he said, glancing over fondly at Kurt.

"He's... not just your friend, is he?"

Blaine shook his head, not even bothering to get a look at the face of the man he was talking to. "No. He's my everything."

At that moment, Kurt turned, caught his gaze, and a huge smile appeared on his face, one that reached his eyes and made the skin around his eyes crinkle adorably.

Blaine smiled back.

[*]*[*]

There were more than just reefs, Kurt was delighted to find out when he hopped into the water after getting his snorkeling gear on. He took his head out of the water and kicked over to wear Blaine was floating and tapped his shoulder to get his attention. "Come over here, Blaine. There's _sharks_."

He kicked back to the spot he had been in previously and pushed his face under the water with a loud _plop_ sound. A few seconds later he felt Blaine's hand slide into his and felt Blaine's head appear by his. He reached down with his other hand and pointed to one of the reefs, where a shark was resting. Blaine's other hand appeared close to his face, giving him a thumbs up. Kurt gave him a grin, but not even a second later water flooded his mouth so he pulled his face up and took out his snorkeler and coughed, the water spilling out of his mouth.

Blaine came up and took out his own, a smile already forming on his mouth. "Can't do that under water, Kurt," he laughed.

Kurt glared at him through his coughs, and when they eventually stopped he stuck out his tongue and closed his eyes tightly. "Ugh, salt water. Blegh."

Although the laughter that Blaine let out was more than worth it.

He was putting his snorkeler back in his mouth when someone shouted out, "Turtles are over here!"

He glanced at Blaine, then splashed his face with water and took off towards the area the turtles were supposed to be. "Hey!" Blaine called out after him and Kurt grinned inwardly.

He wasn't going through that again.

Kurt was officially all snorkeled out a short two hours later. The boat had docked back at their original starting spot, and Blaine had woken him up by kissing him and telling him they needed to get to the luau. He let out a grumbling sound but got up and dragged himself back to Blaine's car, ready for food. "Ugh, I'm hungry again," he said sadly. "Why am I so hungry, Blaine!"

Blaine shrugged. "I just think that you're doing a lot and your body isn't used to it so your energy is getting all used up quicker and-"

"Okay, I was just speaking out loud! You didn't need to get all medical on me!"

Blaine let out a bark of laughter. "Sorry, sorry!"

Kurt sighed and leaned back against the head rest. "This vacation has been so amazing..." He tilted his head and gave Blaine a smothering look. "I'm so glad that you were able to come with us. And that you managed to convince your parents to let us use your condo."

Blaine shrugged, letting the feeling of love rise from his stomach. "It's nothing, really, Kurt. This is the first vacation that you've gotten to have for a while, and I knew how much you wanted this after the doctor gave you the okay. I'm just surprised that your dad let me come along with you."

Kurt shrugged his shoulders. "It took _much_ persuading, but it's worth it," he said, reaching out and lacing their fingers together. "Ooh," he suddenly exclaimed, reaching out with his right hand to turn up the volume on the radio. "I haven't heard this song in forever. We should have a mad car dance party right now."

"_The Eye of the Tiger?_" Blaine asked, a huge grin on his face. "Let's."

They danced crazily the entire way to the luau, not caring about the stares that they got from the passing people; as they arrived at the luau location, they had just finished listening and dancing to _Na Na Na Na Na Na Na, _and Kurt was maybe just slightly winded. They pulled into the nearest parking spot they saw and hurried to buy their tickets at the door.

Carole was waiting for them at the entrance. "You're late, boys," she said softy as they walked swiftly to their table. "The show has already started."

"You mean we missed all of the girls swinging their hips? Oh darn," Kurt said softy to Blaine, who had to cover his mouth to hide his laughter. They sat down at their table, Kurt next to Finn (who gave them one glance, then shook his head at Kurt slightly before turning his attention back to the girls dancing on the stage) and Blaine next to Burt.

"So, tell me why Finn is mad at you?" Blaine asked softly in Kurt's ear.

"I may have accidentally mentioned his browser history to Carole... Oops?"

Blaine smacked his thigh softly. "You didn't."

"He used one of my Marc Jacobs shirts to wipe his face off after he went running. I_ had_to get revenge."

"Ah, I see now. Everything makes sense all of a sudden."

Kurt smacked his shoulder playfully. "Hush, and watch the girls shake their hips like champions."

Blaine turned his attention back to the girls. "They do shake them rather fast, don't they?"

"When I was young I always thought they were going to fall off."

"Well, if you watch really close it does seem like they would fall off at that speed." He blinked. "They just sped up. Wow. Food time," he said, looking down at the plate that Carole had made for him.

"You're a dork," Kurt said while picking up his fork.

"I'm _your_ dork, though."

Kurt just hummed in agreement then took a bite of his food.

The luau show's final performance was a man who breathed fire. It was around that time when Burt tapped Kurt's shoulder and said, "I think we should head back down to the beach so we can catch the fireworks."

Kurt agreed, then pulled on Blaine's hand and stood up. "Let's head back to the beach, okay?"

Blaine took one last bite of his dessert and stood up, wiping his mouth on his napkin; he tossed it, crumpled up, on to his paper plate, then pushed his chair in. "Then let's go!"

"You're such a _gentleman_, Blaine. To push your chair in like that? You just went up on the dapper scale."

Blaine pretended to fix an imaginary tie. "I'm always striving to go up on the dapper scale."

The fireworks started halfway through their drive back to the beach, and Kurt leaned out of the Jeep window to stare at them. "Oh, they're so _beautiful_, Blaine!"

Blaine stepped on the gas just a little bit harder.

Kurt didn't even waited for Blaine to park the car; as soon as it stopped he jumped out and rushed to the beach just in time to see one of the biggest firework explode in the sky. His mouth fell open just a bit and he couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from slipping upwards. A few moments later a hand slipped into his and his smile widened. He squeezed Blaine's hand tightly and, with his eyes still focused on the sky, said, "Ever since I came home from the hospital you've been holding my hand a lot. Is there a reason?"

"Do I need one?"

Kurt shrugged. "No, not really."

He was forced to look away from the fireworks when Blaine took his shoulders and faced him. "I'm in love with you, Kurt."

Kurt smiled at him. "I'm am most _certainly_ in love with you too, Blaine Anderson."

Blaine started to lean in, so Kurt met him halfway. It wasn't a needy kiss; it was soft, mostly them just pressing their lips together, but it meant so much to both of them, cementing the fact that what was between them was real, and that it wouldn't change any time soon. Eventually, Kurt pulled back humming, and Blaine reached up and stroked his cheek.

"Want to go play in the water? I think that your dad, Carole and Finn should be here soon."

Kurt let out a small laugh and leaned into Blaine's touch. "We did speed here, didn't we?"

Blaine nodded. "Yeah... I kind of wanted to get here almost as bad as you did." He let go of Kurt's hand and cheek, then nodded at the ocean. "Meet you down there," he said before taking off at a jog towards the water.

Kurt watched him for a while, an adoring smile on his face.

_Fall in love._

Bucket list number one.

_He's mine. I can't believe he's mine, after all of this... _Then he exhaled, thought, _to hell with it_, and ran to where Blaine was being pushed to the ground by a wave and laughing.

It was like his mother had always said. _"There's always a light, Kurt, a light at the end of everything that happens to you; every trial, every journey. It's just your job to find it. It'll be hard, there's no doubt about that, but oh so worth it in the end."_

_I agree, Mom,_ he thought as he reached the water and Blaine immediately reached up and pulled him down into the water with him. As he surfaced he could hear his dad yelling out to them and he could hear the fireworks above them; he could hear Blaine's laughter and heartbeat with how close he was. Blaine looked down at him then, and Kurt smiled back up at him.

"I'm going to kiss you now," Blaine said, then leaned down and proceeded to do just that.

_There is a light at the end._ _And I've found mine._

_**The end.**_

* * *

><p><strong><em>Author's notes:<em>** You guys, it's over! I'm crying!

I just want to thank everyone of you who read this story, who alerted it, put it on their favorites, and reviewed it. I love each and every one of you! I really wanted to put this up yesterday, but I wanted you guys to have a nice, happy ending, what with all of the angst you had to read through to get to it. I hope that the ending was to your liking!

Also, if people would like, would anyone be interested in a sequel? It wouldn't _nearly_ be as angsty as this was one, because those boys deserve happiness now. If you are interested, put it in a review, a PM, or you can go to my tumblr (the link is in my profile) and let me know in my ask box (I'm friendly, I swear!).

I love _all of you!_

UO**  
><strong>


	11. Sequel Update

The sequel to this story is now up! It's called The Ride We Take.

I hope that you enjoy!


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